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Pepper Spray

a definite risk of fatality" (Wilson 23). People are dying after coming in contact with pepper spray because police officers do not know the complications associated with it when used against someone with a medical condition or a drug problem. This incident tells the citizens of America that no matter what illness they may have; pepper spray will be used without concern for their lives. Since then, "Berkeley's Pepper Spray Task Force declared that police [officers] should abandon the noxious liquid" (Koury and Reed 2). The police officer's use of pepper spray is targeted toward, "subjects who are highly aggressive, agitated, intoxicated, or suffering from mental illness" (qtd. in Earth First 12). Although pepper spray is used against hostile individuals, "Humboldt County Sheriffs have used OC/ pepper spray ten times against non violent activists acting completely passive and in no way endangering the lives of the officers on the scene" (Earth First 10). One incident in particular happened on October 3rd, 1997, during a non-violent protest against logging policies at Bear Creek, Pacific Lumber property in Humboldt County, California:Earth First Environmental Activists were locked together and protected by metal sleeves on their arms. When the police officers arrived at the scene, Earth First members were asked to remove the metal sleeves, they refused. Since the police officers believed that cutting the metal sleeves could cause serious injury, they decided that rubbing pepper spray into they eyes of the activists would be an effective way to force everyone out of the metal sleeves. This tactic did in fact work, except for the fact that police officers still had to cut the metal sleeves off of two activists whom after being sprayed with pepper spray still did not remove the metal sleeves. (Earth First 17)It is common knowledge that when suspected criminals are arrested by police officers they are handcuffed to prevent injury to...

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