“I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents”

[Kadie]

Pepper Spray’s Fallout, From Crowd Control to Mocking Images
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: November 22, 2011


snip...
“The courts have made it very clear that these type of devices can’t be used indiscriminately and should be used only when the target poses a physical threat to someone,” said Michael Risher, staff attorney for the A.C.L.U. of Northern California.

To Kamran Loghman, who helped develop pepper spray into a weapons-grade material with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the 1980s, the incident at Davis violated his original intent.

“I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents,” Mr. Loghman said in an interview.

Mr. Loghman, who also helped develop guidelines for police departments using the spray, said that use-of-force manuals generally advise that pepper spray is appropriate only if a person is physically threatening a police officer or another person.

more...
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/pepper-sprays-fallout-from-crowd-control-to-mocking-images.html?_r=2

[MineralMan]

1. The responses to Lt. Pike's improper use of pepper spray

are gaining ground. They're doing the job that needs to be done, and will affect how this noxious material will be used in the future. Public outcry is the most powerful possible way to change procedures. I have no doubt that memos regarding pepper spray use are being read to shifts going on duty in many places today. There are many paths to change. This is one of them.

[asjr]

4. Let us hope Pike's Peaked!

[Fumesucker]

5. This is one of the paths that wouldn't have happened by staying within the political process..

[alcibiades_mystery]

26. It also filters edown to the individual officer

Who wants to be the next John Pike, ridiculed and humiliated across the internet, and sitting on admin leave, with possible lawsuits and termination proceedings on the horizon? Which police officer wants to be that guy, for next time?

As soon as they have to think twice, we've won. The images here are thousands of times more powerful than attacking the dude on the spot. They should make posters with the image, but Pike's face replaced with a white circle reading "Your Face Here," and his name crossed out with "Your Name Here" beneath it. You carry dozens of those at protests, and we'll see what the individual police officer thinks of his or her anonymity and the actions it authorizes. .

[pinto]

2. Kick

:kick:

[secondwind]

3. K&R

:kick:

[Bluenorthwest]

6. The whole world is talking about it.

Except for the President, of course.

[ZombieHorde]

7. Why should he bother his beautiful mind about it when he is the most powerless person in the world?

[Marr]

8. Yep. There's absolutely nothing the president could do or say.

Unless we're talking about election time, I mean. If Perry were president, his power would be absolute! He could even command the weather! Boo!

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. hehehe

:evilgrin: :thumbsup:

[PurgedVoter]

9. Assault while wearing a badge

Simply put, Assault while wearing a badge, should be considered assault and abuse of authority. The commander of the force should be working to prosecute the turncoat that violated all appropriate ethics.

[stuntcat]

10. "should be used only when the target poses a physical threat to someone,”

that seems obvious, so screamingly obvious.
Men with badges and uniforms using pepper spray on un-armed people (old ladies.. a bunch of people sitting down..) is just a shame on them.

I'm totally on the side of policemen. They are citizens like the rest of us. They keep me safe. But when they start hurting people who aren't ANY danger to anyone, and no other cops step in to stop it, then it changes my mind about them.

[arcane1]

11. And baby squirrels too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDuAYH9SOSM

[stuntcat]

13. that is the kind of thing I will never forget seeing

I'm not kidding one bit. This kind of think builds up like a mountain in me.

[Kadie]

14. no words.

:grr:

[bengalherder]

24. Not just uniforms

but armor.


Guess this is the new feudalism.

[Bandit]

12. I think a few students are going to get all their education costs paid for them..

I hope they sue that cop into oblivion...

[Downtown Hound]

15. “I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents,”

Really? Were you completely asleep during the RNC demonstrations in 2008? I appreciate the sentiment and the outrage, but damn, this really shouldn't surprise anybody that hasn't had their head up their ass for the last ten years. Our police have become a militarized terrorist force.

[Fokker Trip]

17. I like your use of the word "terrorist" there. Seems right to me. nt

[Electric Monk]

16. K&R

[Rozlee]

18. They used to spray us with that shit in the Army

It was part of our NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) training. They'd make us go through this gas chamber and douse us with the stuff. The macho guys would go in all cocky and come out on the other end dying. You could never tell who would react how with that stuff. Some would recover OK after a few minutes, others would take hours, or even days. A person or two here or there had to be taken to the clinic or ER for asthma attacks or because their eyes had swelled shut. We were in a medical unit and our instructors told us stories of soldiers that had anaphylactic reactions to the stuff and almost died from shock and some who had. We were lucky that we only went through it twice since we were considered non-combatants. Infantry and SF often had to go through it over and over and your chances of getting greater sensitivity to the stuff--versus greater tolerance--is higher every time it's used on you.

[ladyVet]

20. Had it in the USAF.

You know what it will be like, how to react, you know it's coming, and it's still a horrible experience. I was lucky not have a bad reaction to it -- well, no more than the usual things -- but a couple of people in my flight had to go to the hospital.

Nobody who is not an immediate danger to themselves or others should be shot, Tasered or pepper sprayed.

[spooked911]

19. As Rachel Maddow said in a recent segment, another issue is these agents allow force to be used

when it wouldn't otherwise be used. No way those students would be shot at with live ammo, right?

[MrMickeysMom]

22. He walked just as calmly as a gardener spraying roses...

This "officer" was also the subject of another police officer's complaint. Accordingly, nothing came out of this complaint. They couldn't even get an internal investigation of his police brutality.

Now, I say he ought to be brought up on full charges, stemming back to the original officer's complaint, to show a pattern of abuse. This mean, of course, that his superiors will be found incompetent as well.

That's the least they can do at this point.

[bvar22]

23. "Superiors" are no longer held accountable.

As Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld stated at the Congressional hearings on the abuses at Abu Ghraib,
"The Chain of Command is murky."

Incompetent "superiors" are now promoted, and given raises and bonuses.

George W Bush
Tim Geithner
Larry Summers
Eric Holder
John Boehner

Thats the "Uniquely American Solution".


...I could go on,
but you get the picture.




You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
Solidarity99!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[MrMickeysMom]

27. ;-) I get the picture

click!

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. The implicit argument here is that pepper spray is not as bad as just shooting people

Well, thank God for small favors, Ms. Seelye!

:puke: