A man was injured when a Confederate statue at a monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, was topped by demonstrators Wednesday, police said.
Sgt. Misty Holley of the Portsmouth Police Department said a man sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized.
She said the statute came down during a demonstration. At 10:12 p.m. her department tweeted that people should stay away from the area of the monument.
A witness identified as a Black Lives Matter activist told NBC affiliate WAVY that the injured man had been at the front of the “statue” when he was struck as it was pulled down.
“It came and fully hit him in the head, and we could see that his skull was actually showing,” he said. “He was convulsing on the ground.”
“He lost a great amount of blood,” the witness said. “And we ask that everybody pray for that man right now.”
The toppling is part of a wave of Confederate and Christopher Columbus monuments being removed or forcefully brought down in the wake of national indignation over the in-custody death of George Floyd.
Holley said the incident was under investigation, and that no arrests had been made.
