WI Marine Injured During Protest in Oakland

10/27/11 – A La Crosse area Marine was in critical condition at last word, after he fractured his skull during an Occupy Wall Street protest in Oakland California. 24-year-old Scott Olsen of Onalaska was hit by an object when demonstrators and police officers clashed on Tuesday. It happened when the demonstrators tried to re-establish a presence at a protest camp in Oakland that was disbanded. Witnesses said Olsen was hit by either a police rubber bullet or a tear gas canister. Friends said he had brain swelling when he was taken to Oakland’s Highland Hospital, and he suffered a seizure there yesterday. Olsen was still in high school when he signed up for the Marines at age 17. He served two tours of duty in Iraq with the Marines’ Third Battalion unit. But his friend and fellow Marine Keith Shannon said Olsen didn’t agree with the war, and he wanted to do something else for a career. Olsen left the military last year. Shannon said both he and Olsen joined the Iraq Veterans Against the War – and they had taken part in Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in both San Francisco and Oakland.