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By Shaun smillie 
2h ago
Johannesburg – Bradley Steyn, a former ANC spy who was seriously injured by police officers during a Black Lives Matter protest in Los Angeles, has been charged with battery in the same incident.
Steyn was rushed to the hospital on May 30 last year for emergency surgery on a ruptured testicle after he was hit by a projectile fired by a Los Angeles police officer.
The 49-year-old South African is suing the city over the incident. However, yesterday it emerged that he is being accused of assaulting an officer and resisting or obstructing an officer. His lawyers have called the move retaliatory.
The incident has had a lot of media coverage in recent months, in part because Steyn had shared his experience of being shot and rushed to the emergency room. This was later countered by the Los Angeles Police Department which released body camera footage of Steyn allegedly throwing himself forward at an officer and attempting to kick him, moments before he was shot.
It has been suggested that Steyn’s alleged actions gave a second officer reason to view him as a threat and shoot him.
Meanwhile, Steyn and his followers have called the shooting incident a representation of excessive force. He was also hit in the chest with a baton during the same incident.
Steyn, a survivor of the 1989 Pretoria Strijdom Square mass shooting and is the co-author of a book about his days as a spy for the ANC, now lives outside Los Angeles.
He has accused the police of not following procedure and shooting his testicles directly. Steyn and his lawyers have also accused the LAPD of being selective with the heavily edited images they posted on You Tube.
LAPD procedure requires officers firing that particular projectile used in riot control to target an individual’s belt line. Furthermore, they can only shoot if the officers or other people in the crowd are threatened.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Steyn’s attorney, Jerod Gunsberg, said there was a lot of evidence telling the whole truth. He added that he was eager to fight the case.
However, the city attorney’s office said the charges were unrelated to the lawsuit.
Police body camera video released in August shows Steyn standing near the front of the crowd of protesters, directly in front of a line of officers.
When officers yelled for the protesters to leave the area, Steyn responded by shouting “Shut up.”
He then accused the officers of using excessive force.
At one point, an officer pushes a man passing through the police line. This seems to cause Steyn and the crowd to get angry.
Steyn is later caught on video throwing himself at the cop. In an interview with the LA Times, Steyn claimed that he was trying to defend the man who had been pushed.
In the interview, Steyn said the incident reminded him of the Strijdom Square massacre, where white supremacist Barend Strydom killed eight people and injured 16 others.
Steyn had witnessed the shooting when he was 17 years old in 1988 and, according to him, this had caused him post-traumatic stress.
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