A volunteer Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer who was repeatedly stung and collapsed when hundreds of bees swarmed an Encino neighborhood remained hospitalized May 17.
The uniformed civilian volunteer—who has been identified by his family only as Gary—and his partner were performing traffic control May 15 near the 17100 block of West Adlon Road to assist fire crews responding to a person being stung by bees, according to an LAPD statement.
The bee swarm quickly grew, involving potentially thousands, surrounding a hive located in the eaves of a nearby residence.
As the officer exited his vehicle and approached the home, he was soon swarmed by bees. The scene was captured on live television, where the officer was seen swatting away bees around him and collapsing to the ground face-first.
“He attempted to swat the bees away but was stung multiple times in the face and eyes, causing him to lose his footing and fall to the ground,” according to the LAPD.
The initial victim was transported to the hospital as well as the officer for treatment of the stings as well as fractures around his eye and bruises, police said.
According to the man’s son, who established the donation page, his father has volunteered for the LAPD for nearly 18 years.
However, due to his volunteer status, the LAPD can’t pay for his medical expenses, according to the son.
“Unfortunately, while his job gets a lot of praise, we recently found out he'll be on the hook for his own medical expenses through Medicare, since volunteers are not considered city employees,” the son said on the GoFundMe page.
As of May 17, the campaign had raised over $12,000.
In light of the bee attack, officials urged local residents to remain indoors and keep windows and doors sealed, as a professional beekeeping company was called to the scene.
Izak Kharrazi from All Valley Honey & Bee told CBS2 the bee swarm had exceeded his expectations in both size and aggression.
“There is like a cloud of hundreds of bees over there,” he told the station. “They’re mad as could be.“ He then added: ”This is not a normal behavior for these bees to be this angry, to want to kill you. This is not OK.”
