County Defends Use of Pepper Spray on Activists
11/13/97
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Headline: County Defends Use of Pepper Spray on Activists
Source: The Associated Press
Date: 11/13/97
Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Police who put liquid pepper
spray in the eyes of anti-logging protesters made an
appropriate response because the demonstrators showed
``active resistance'' by chaining themselves together,
an attorney for the county said.
Humboldt County lawyer Nancy K. Delaney said in court
papers filed Wednesday that applying the stinging
chemical to the edges of demonstrators' eyes was a
proper way to break up protests at a lumber company and
a congressman's office.
In the same filing, police training expert Joseph J.
Callahan Jr. said a videotape of the deputies' conduct
could even be used as a training film ``illustrating
modern police practices delivered in a calm, calculated
manner.''
Parts of that videotape, shot by deputies at an Oct. 16
demonstration, were shown on national television after
the demonstrators filed suit Oct. 30.
The tape featured four young women who had chained
themselves together in the Eureka office of Rep. Frank
Riggs, R-Calif. The women are seen moaning in apparent
pain after deputies applied liquid pepper spray to
their eyes with cotton swabs. One woman who still
refused to move then got the pepper substance sprayed
into her eyes from a few inches away.
The demonstrators have been charged with trespassing
and related crimes. They were protesting the cutting of
old-growth timber by Pacific Lumber Co. and Riggs'
support for a proposal that would protect only a
portion of California's Headwaters Forest.
Despite claims that pepper spray has caused a number of
deaths, Delaney said the substance poses no long-term
health risks.
Disputing the demonstrators' argument that pepper spray
should be used only in self-defense, Delaney said its
use was justified to arrest people who are ``actively
resisting arrest.''
She characterized the protesters' use of chain
bracelets inside heavy metal sleeves as ``active
resistance'' and said cutting through the metal could
have injured someone.
But Ed O'Leary, a legal assistant to the demonstrators'
lawyer, said the sheriff's office had used metal
grinders to cut through the chains in previous
demonstrations without injury.