Pepper spray use on revelers to face Columbus Police Review

[peace13]

Students interviewed by The Dispatch said they were caught up in the mayhem without even realizing what was unfolding around them. Some said they had heard no commands to disperse before being hit with gas or spray.

Morgan Johnson, 20, and a group of friends were walking south on the N. High Street sidewalk when they were overpowered by a cloud of pepper spray around E. 13th Avenue. Johnson said she did't’t hear any warnings before her lungs, throat and eyes started burning.

“I wasn't’t even directly sprayed with it,” the third-year Ohio State public-affairs major said. “ Immediately my eyes started swelling with tears. You’re spitting up. It was something I’I've never experienced.”

Johnson said that she and her friends weren't’t causing problems or blocking roads.

“To pepper-spray people who might be walking to get food or just walking down the street, that’s insane,” she said. “That’s egregious.”


http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/01/13/Fans_tear_down_south_goal_post_at_Ohio_Stadium.html


Looks like the police finally got to practice with their camo wear and armored vehicle. These citizens got educated last night. Now...is it time to wake up?

[Orrex]

1. On the bright side, no civilians were summarily executed in the street

This time...

[peace13]

4. True..

The mind boggle to me is that celebration was to be expected. What the authorities are saying is that there is not a place in our society for celebration. History would tell us that folks would be coming home after watching the game. Watching those punks spray into the faces of people who are on the sidewalk, minding their own business is truly disgusting to me.

[Orrex]

5. I've heard conflicting reports:

Were the cops actually on the street in camo riot gear & armored vehicles in preparation for the riot? If so, then that's simply an obscene violation of civil rights because it directly curtails the 1st Amendment right of peaceable assembly.

Regardless, the use of pepper spray in this context is indeed disgusting, and it's sad that we can consider them lucky not to have been killed outright.


I'm not sure of the formal procedure, but I read years ago that someone "at" or a riot is considered to be a participant in the riot. By this idiotic reasoning, pepper-spraying the bystanders probably seems perfectly justified.

[djean111]

2. So - it is okay to pepper spray everyone but students? n/t

[peace13]

3. If you read the article and watch the video...

...these folks were walking on the sidewalk! And to answer your question, it is not OK to spray citizens who are lawfully occupying a sidewalk!