Seattle police officer describes having fireworks thrown at his face during riot

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A Seattle police officer recalled having fireworks thrown at his face during a confrontation with protesters Sunday night, an experience he described as feeling like being hit with a hammer.

Officer Adam Fowler, 34, was one of six officers who suffered injuries during a march in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood that was eventually declared a riot. Footage from various officer body cameras showed explosives being thrown at officers as they attempted to disperse the crowd.

“As soon as they encountered us, it got pretty scary because they started launching and throwing fireworks at us,” Fowler told KOMO News. “There aren't tiny fireworks, they're firecrackers, commercial-grade mortars… they should be launched hundreds of feet in the air in a safe place to be detonated so they can put on a firework display. These aren't meant [to be used] for weapons."

The body camera footage showed officers being targeted with explosives in multiple instances. They were pelted with rocks and bottles, the Seattle Police Department said.

When the explosive went off near his face, Fowler said he briefly lost his vision for up to a minute and part of his face swelled to roughly the size of a golf ball. His eye also was injured.

"The only thing I could see was a bright flash and then a loud bang and what felt like a hammer hitting me in the face," he said. "My first initial thought was, I'm going to lose my left eye and that was pretty scary."

An officer's injuries after an explosive was thrown at them. Left photo shows an injury to eye; the right image shows burn injuries to back of the neck. (Seattle Police Department)

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Another officer suffered burns to the back of the neck. In total, six officers were injured and 18 people were arrested.

Fowler has been with the police force for five years. He moved to Seattle from Colorado where he also was a police officer, the news station reported. He noted that he supports peaceful protests, not rioters.

“They want to harm us, harm businesses, harm things in Seattle and then quickly turn the story on us like we have created something bad when they are seeking us every night,” Fowler said.