pepper2.htm

A 32-year-old man who was pepper-sprayed by transit officials on a Toronto city bus earlier this month has died in hospital.

The province's Special Investigation Unit says Jasen Drnasin succumbed to his injuries shortly before 3 p.m. today at the Humber River Regional Hospital.
Drnasin became involved in an altercation with Toronto Transit Commission special constables and Toronto police officers Nov. 12 and was pepper-sprayed in the melee.
He immediately went into medical distress and was transported to hospital in critical condition with severe brain swelling.
The SIU is continuing to probe the nature and extent of police involvement.
A civilian government agency, the SIU is called in to investigate situations involving police and civilians, but has no jurisdiction over TTC security officers.

Man dies after being pepper-sprayed by police
Jun. 2, 2006. CANADIAN PRESS

A 58-year-old Toronto man who collapsed after being pepper-sprayed by police died today in hospital.

The man collapsed during an altercation with police on Tuesday and was taken to hospital in critical condition.

The province's Special Investigations Unit is probing the man's death to determine what role, if any, the police played.

The SIU is a civilian agency that investigates circumstances involving police and civilians resulting in serious injury, sexual assault or death.
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At the OTTAWA CITIZEN - Nov.19.2002
- Police pepper spray crowd (police officers wield pepper spray against passersby who had come to an injured officers' aid)
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Pepper Spray
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 11:13:45 EDT
From: HWC92618@aol.com

I saw your web site and wanted to tell you that I believe a friend of mine died as a result of using pepper spray. She had a run in w/the sheriffs Dept. outside of Denver, CO on Sept. 2, 2001. She had been using drugs and was extremely agitated. A sheriff used pepper spray on her, and strapped her to a guerney and put her in an ambulance. She was only 20 minutes from the hospital and died in route. She was reported as starting to calm down, and did not complain of any breathing problems or any other discomfort. To me, this does not make any sense. I have been studying the effects of pepper
spray on the web. They should have not used pepper spray because I have learned that using it on people that are on drugs, plus tieing them down as well as other factors, can be lethal. I am going to get a copy of her autopsy and police report. I don't know if there really is anything I can do about it, but I wanted to email you to let you know about this. Any recommendation you may have would be appreciated.
Thanks, from a grieving friend.
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Pepper spray used on tar ponds protesters - Wed Aug.1.2001
   SYDNEY, N.S. - Police in Nova Scotia used pepper spray to subdue angry protesters at a meeting on the Sydney tar ponds Wednesday morning. Three people were arrested.
A scuffle broke out at an information session hosted by the federal government. Scientists were trying to explain the testing procedures being used as they study the contaminated ground and what effect it's having on residents.
   Environmental activist Bruno Marcocchio, who is under a peace bond to stay away from these events, was among a group of protesters who interrupted the meeting.
   Police were called when Marcocchio began arguing with a scientist on the panel. After he refused to leave, four officers were forcing Marcocchio into a cruiser when several others challenged them.
   Police responded with pepper spray. Two other protesters were also arrested, and police say they will be charged with assault and obstruction.
They tar ponds in the Cape Breton community are considered among the worst toxic waste sites in the country. Residents there have been demanding government action to help them move away from the area contaminated by a century of steel production.
Recent tests have shown some children who live nearby have high levels of arsenic in their systems.
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Gas/Pepper Abuse - Quebec - FTAA Summit of the Americas Protest Reports – Quebec 2001

Subject: Re: Pepper Spray in Oklahoma
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000
From: Jchance413@aol.com
Thank you for sending link on pepper spray ..
At the county commissioners meeting in Oklahoma City Nov 20, 2000 when I asked jail medical if it could kill if it went down the thoat and into the lungs and they said no...I knew we had a problem. I told the commissioners, believed we have a serial killer in this jail...with the highest number of jail deaths in the nation. Most of deaths are connected to the suicide chair and boards...on the 13 th floor. We took TV news cameras to this floor in May 2000. They filmed the chair, ect. The detainee who died on Oct. 28, 2000 had to have his tongue cut out ..god have mercy, I had never heard of such a thing in my life. My friends took photos of his body before his cremation. Strap marks all around his face area...one leg was much shorter than his other leg...he must have walked with severe limp...or cane.
Class action lawsuits have been filed against this holocaust tower in the past couple months. Here is link to commissioner minutes...scroll down for
public part...
http://www.oklahomacounty.org/countyclerk/Minutes_Pages/bocc_current_minutes.htm
Our governor is former FBI man who loves private prisons.
Can you click the October link?
Judy Chancellor
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Montreal Protest Against Pepper Spray Deaths - August,2000
- read the article
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Showdown at Queen's Park - Toronto, June 15 2000
(Police Raid called a Riot)
* Pepper spray protection was used at this protest, some of it provided by coalition members. Goggles, bandanas, dust masks, hats and a special soap to remove oil from the skin (oil reacts giving pepper spray its painful effect) worked to minimize pain from pepper spray.
Read the full reports - http://photos.citizensontheweb.com/june15.htm
The coalition has contacted nearly all Canadian politicians on the pepper spray issue and as they do not reply, we recommend that all protest groups wear protective gear. Wear it to protect, and to show the government that if they will not act for a ban, then citizens will protect themselves visibly to embarrass them.
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Toronto Police use Pepper Spray and violence against Rally in Support of Political Prisoners in DC
4 arrested, several injured by pepper spray
see our - A16 Links and News Page
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- A16 - Police Abuse in Washington at the anti IMF Demonstrations - April 2000
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- Seattle - Unbelievable Police Chemical Weapons Violence used against protesters in Seattle, December 99. Complete reports at News from Seattle.

The police have been lucky in the many deaths caused by pepper spray. Usually complications in the deaths make it hard to state that pepper spray was the absolute cause of death.

Recently police killed a man in Montreal with pepper spray, and brought some Canadian media attention. Abuse of the spray and related deaths are numerous and a news archive is posted on the web site of the Canadian Coalition for a Federal Ban on Pepper Spray
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/pepper.htm

Canadian politicians have all but hid from the issue. Yet in the United States in many places, politicians are wondering why they ever allowed the use of pepper spray. City Council in Minneapolis is the latest place taking a look at the use of the spray.

It used to be that complaints were mostly from police abuse as they used the spray on the homeless, the mentally ill and political protesters. Sometimes killing them with it and always torturing with it. In England one case involved a police officer that went to a grade school and sprayed a young boy the teacher said was unruly. Recent photos from the USA show police spraying streams from fire extinguisher-sized canisters to drive journalists away. In Seattle, police charged and sprayed a man and a baby, a grandma and hundreds of others. US environmental protesters had it swabbed into their eyes as police moved in to break the solidarity of a sit-in. In Denver police pepper sprayed cheerleaders and the school band as they broke up a football game. And in Canada who can forget RCMP guy Hugh Stewart and his use of the spray as a chemical weapon to clear protesters quickly from a road.

In the last while most of the mail I've been getting at the web site is from security and police people in the USA who have been sprayed in training. These people can't speak out against the spray and are humiliated by colleagues after having a bad reaction. One policewoman e-mailed, saying she strongly opposed the spray. A security guard told me his tale of suffering and humiliation. Now a letter has come in from a US attorney named Tim Rowe <timrowe@indy.net> alternate email is <adrowe@gateway.net >

Here is his story of how a young boot camp recruit was pepper sprayed and killed.

……. Eddie was a 24-year-old incarcerated for drunk driving and fleeing police. He enrolled in Wrightville bootcamp to lessen his sentence.
   The first day in boot camp he died as a victim of pepper spray and untrained officers in its use. He began to have an asthma attack five minutes into a running program and asked the officers if he could catch his breath but they became belligerent and pepper sprayed him. He was taken behind a building and pepper sprayed again and was put on his stomach with an officer with a foot in his back trying to get him up. This is a common position for asphyxiation. We believe an entire canister of pepper spray was sprayed in his mouth and nose area. They delayed in getting him medical attention for over an hour and failed to tell the medical personnel that he was pepper sprayed. He died a few hours later at the hospital. The officers who used the pepper spray let their certification in the use of pepper spray lapse.
   We have sued the Arkansas Department of Corrections and the individual officers. The case will probably go to trial in the spring of next year. We have retained Dr. Stopford as our expert toxicologist and are in the process of retaining some other experts.
   I would be interested in taking cases of other individuals who believe they may have a cause of action against law enforcement for unlawful force by the use of pepper spray and were seriously injured or killed. I have been collecting a solid data base of information on pepper spray.

By all witness accounts, the pepper spray showered into Dale Jackson's face on May 31 did little to subdue him.

The 31-year-old Mount Oliver man was acting so bizarre and so aggressive that he continued flailing and screaming wildly as officers tried to control him.

Prior to the officers' arrival, the 254-pound Jackson, who had a history of drug abuse and mental illness, had been shouting and trying to jump into passing cars as they eased around him while he ran down the middle of Fifth Avenue Downtown.

He was found lying motionless in the back of a police wagon just minutes after being treated by staff at St. Francis Central Hospital for pepper spray exposure. He wasn't beaten or abused by the officers, and he hadn't even been in police custody long enough to be charged with anything. But he was dead, and no one knew why.

Jackson's family and local NAACP officials are hoping that a coroner's inquest at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Aug. 10) will shed some light on what happened to Jackson that night. Harvey Adams, chairman of the NAACP's police affairs committee, says their group will be watching the inquest to make sure certain questions are answered.

Any time a young man dies suddenly in police custody, Adams says, there has to be a reasonable explanation. Research by local NAACP member Dell Vann shows that pepper spray is a possible cause, Adams asserts. Beyond that, however, he believes there is also a question of whether St. Francis Central Hospital should have released Jackson at all. Jackson did refuse psychiatric care, but by law both the hospital and the police had a right to commit Jackson for a psychiatric evaluation.

"I'm no doctor, but anyone can tell that craziness is craziness," Adams says. "He was pepper sprayed and that's a fact. He was also acting very bizarre. They should have taken him in for treatment."

Although it's unclear what was found by both the county police and by the coroner's investigations and each has declined to comment until the inquest, the case is being closely monitored by those who believe a reaction to the spray took Jackson's life.

Few comprehensive studies have been done on the effects of pepper spray. Depending on who's doing the investigation, pepper spray either is or isn't linked to sudden in-custody deaths.

Pepper spray, also known as Oleoresin Capsaicin, causes intense coughing, gagging, shortness of breath and pain to the eyes and skin when released. Reports also show that Capsaicin, the spray's active ingredient, has been known in some cases to stop the heart briefly and to cause labored breathing.

Although only one medical examiner in the past seven years has listed a pepper spray reaction as a cause of death, Jo Hirschmann, an executive board member for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights -- a national police watchdog group based in San Francisco -- says the evidence and the similarities among cases are widely ignored. That's why she doubts the link will be made in Jackson's case when the Allegheny County coroner's office announces its findings.

"But just because a medical examiner won't make the link, doesn't mean the link doesn't exist," Hirschmann says. "We believe over 100 deaths in this country are a result of pepper spray. Instead of denying that, there needs to be a comprehensive study done immediately."

After Jackson's death, something didn't sit right with Dell Vann. A 31-year-old black man dying in the back of a police vehicle deserves a second or third look.

"Dell's a good researcher," Adams says. "He's found some very interesting facts."

As he completed his research over the last two months, Vann -- echoing Hirschmann's findings -- began to realize Jackson's death was almost a mirror image of 100 other in-custody deaths over the past seven years.

Although Jackson was certainly sprayed during his wild attempt to board moving cars in May -- after officers tried first to catch him --there is no indication how much pepper spray was used. City police guidelines call for a single one-second burst to be administered.

Police contend that the spray didn't have the desired effect and appeared to make Jackson even more agitated. Once Jackson was subdued, officers followed proper procedure and took him to St. Francis where he was briefly treated and released. On the way to the Allegheny County Jail, Jackson, who repeatedly banged his head against the van's walls, died.

Early information indicates the six officers who subdued Jackson followed procedure down to the last letter. Michele Papakie, city police public information officer, says the officers followed the department's "continuum of control." The continuum outlines the levels of force officers can use. After failing to control Jackson with verbal directives, the officers were authorized to, and did, administer a one-second blast of spray.

Once Jackson was taken into custody, he was taken for medical treatment. "They did everything they were supposed to," she adds.

Officer John Serak, an instructor with the city's police academy, says city officers rarely need to use pepper spray during an arrest. Of the 14,725 arrests made in 1999, pepper spray was used in less than one percent of those incidents. He also says the spray has been well received by officers. Since the department started using it a few years ago, the number of serious injuries to officers and suspects has dropped. Serak says officers are trained extensively not only on how to use the product but on how to recognize when it's not working.

"We tell the officers that if the spray doesn't work after a one-second burst, then it's not going to and they need to move on to something else," he adds.

Even Vann admits that procedure was likely followed in Jackson's case. "But maybe the procedure is wrong," he says. "Maybe the weapon is wrong."

When Vann heard of Jackson's in-custody death, he thought Jackson had been beaten. But when the preliminary autopsy report ruled that out, Jackson remembered something he had read about pepper spray.

During his research, he found people in certain high-risk groups have died after being hit with the spray. Some of the victims were asthmatics and had other breathing problems. But a majority of those killed, Hirschmann confirms, were behaving erratically due to mental illness and large amounts of illegal narcotics or psychotropic drugs in their system. In almost every case, the spray had no discernible effect on the suspect but the person was dead within 60 minutes.

Vann says Jackson had a history of both mental illness and drug abuse. Although toxicology reports have not been released, officials have said Jackson was likely on drugs the night he died.

When pepper spray is administered, Hirschmann says, it causes labored breathing and other heart and respiratory problems. Added agitation and stress, she says, can be a further burden on the heart, causing death.

Because someone on drugs or suffering from mental problems is already in a stressful situation, further restraints on vital organs by pepper spray can be a deadly combination.

"In my mind, there is no doubt as to what killed that man," Vann says. "But as usual, this is a guy who the people in power don't know or care about. If he were [deemed more important], justice would have roared."

Even without scientific data, people like Hirschmann, Vann and the ACLU believe pepper spray is far from being a non-lethal police tool. Because of the inadequate data, many groups have called for a halt to pepper spray's use until a comprehensive study can be completed. That is unlikely to happen, however, until coroners and medical examiners begin to realize that 100 deaths under near-identical circumstances are probably more than just a coincidence.

"Sadly, we just don't know for sure how these deaths are happening because there hasn't been adequate research," Hirschmann says. "But there are just too many common factors to dismiss the fact that pepper spray is responsible or [is] at least a strong contributor to these deaths.

Charlie Deitch, Staff Writer, IN PITTSBURGH WEEKLY, e-mail: deitch@inpgh.com
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Anti Pepper Spray Demonstration in Montreal,
Cops Killing with pepper spray
English Version of Report from Bernard Cooper <bcooper@CAM.ORG>
Mon, 7 Aug 2000

*There are ways to execute an innocent person without using a rope. Pepper Spray has become one of those ways, as Bernard Cooper's report below shows.
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Over 100 people took to downtown Montreal streets to loudly and visibly denounce the police's torturous and deadly use of pepper spray against unarmed civilians. The demo took place amid the start of queer pride celebrations and sunny weather; there were many people in the streets. The demo was called by the collective of Citizens Against Police Brutality (CitoyenNEs OpposeEs a la Brutalite Policiere -COBP). At the demo's end, no arrests had been recorded by COBP activists.

Just over two weeks ago, Montrealers learned that police-use of pepper spray was implicated in the deaths of two men in the space of three days. On July 16th Luc Aubert, 43, and on July 18th Sebastien McNicoll, 23, died after being pepper sprayed by the cops. In recent years, the lethal use of pepper spray has contributed to about half of civilian deaths at the hands of the Montreal police. Even before the autopsy reports were in, the pathologist in charge of the (bogus) investigation into the deaths declared at a press conference that pepper spray was a safe alternative to the use of deadly force.

The demo was called with little time to mobilise, and in a context of increasing repression and criminalisation of activists and demonstrators. In the last few months alone, anarchist and radical demos have resulted in mass arrests. The street life of anti police-brutality posters is short, and "political" postering is discriminated against by the authorities (while large corporations place huge unpaid posters all over town...).

COBP received phone calls from queer pride organisers, asking them to move the meeting point of the demo several blocks away from Berri square, where many of the city's marginalised hang out. COBP demos traditionally meet in Berri square, and this request came rather late as well. While the queer pride people grudgingly recognized that they have been targets of police violence, they felt that our demo would attract police (and presumably turn
off tourists and spectators). Apparently, queer pride organisers were encouraged by city officials to put pressure on COBP to make our demo less visible. The approach of queer pride officials resembled a lot like that of police public-relations creeps: -we'd like to meet with COBP "leaders", - -could we come by the "office", who's responsible, -what's the demo's
route, etc. To their dismay, the rallying point for the demo did not move.

The demo was called for 3 p.m. Soon after persons began gathering, a police commander waded into the crowd and approached a COBP activist. Predictable questions followed. The response of COBP was brief and planned: -tell your cops to keep away from the demo and not provoke with their aggressive and close filming. The demo began around 3:30 p.m. People were greeted and information was given about the latest deaths and a brief history of the
promotion and implementation of pepper spray in the U.S. was explained. Stating that since civilian-use of pepper spray was illegal, it should also be banned for the cops. The demo being of modest size, people were persuaded that today would not be a good day for a guerrilla against the cops, that many among the crowd had charges against them and that hearings
had just begun for persons arrested on March 15, International Day Against Police Brutality.

To the bewilderment and consternation of hundreds of ordinary pedestrians, riot-clad cops showed up a block away and formed a line blocking Saint Catherine street, a major east-west throughfare. Tension began to mount as pedestrians gathered to see what was happening. For a while it seemed that if there was to be any altercations with the cops, it would have nothing to do with demonstrators that came to the COBP demo.

COBP organisers had to convene and modify their plans, which had included a march along this busy street. Our goal was to be seen and heard, and the police wanted as much as possible to isolate us. It was decided to pass by the police line and go up another fairly busy street. At times the demo was not on the busiest streets, but a long stretch along Saint-Denis street allowed our messages to pass unmediated to a few thousand persons.

The police were always very close by; they had to balance the antagonism they created with the thousands out on cafe terraces and at street events, along with the possibility of a rapid and brutal response to the anti-cop demo. Indeed, the aggressive zeal of two motorcycle cops nearly resulted in two pedestrians being run down: At 4:28 p.m. several eye witnesses saw
these officers (vehicles # 95-82 & 95-??) pass the demo, ride up at high speed on the east sidewalk (!) of St-Denis, just north of Cherrier street, and narrowly miss two men who were visibly shaken from the near deadly run-in.

Sunday's newspaper coverage of the event was not all that unfavourable; the issue was brought into public consciousness again, and the articles were well placed and with (predictable) images of punk antics.

FROM: Citizens Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP) <cobp@tao.ca>
Info: 514-859-9065 ou cobp@tao.ca
"Pepper Spray can kill you."
- -- A public service announcement from Health COBP
DEMONSTRATION: Saturday, August 5th at 3pm, Berri Square, Montreal
Pepper Spray: 4 deaths since 1996
- - Nelson Perreault, 38, April 15, 1996
- - Richard Whaley, 29, November 10, 1996
- - Luc Aubert, 43, July 16, 2000
- - SÈbastien McNicoll, 23, July 18, 2000
==========================

Quebec: Pepper spray death probed (reposted in the public interest - appeared in the National Post, July.2000)
MONTREAL - For the second time this week, Quebec's provincial police force is investigating a fatality after pepper spray was used by Montreal Urban Community police officers attempting to subdue someone while responding to an emergency call. Sébastien McNicoll, 26, died in a Montreal hospital yesterday, just hours after MUC officers used pepper spray to subdue him after he broke into a home. Mr. McNicoll was already suffering from serious cuts to his arms and head when police arrived on the scene.
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Police officer suspended for pepper-spraying city worker - May.2000
A Vancouver police constable has been suspended for three days without pay for pepper-spraying a member of a road-works crew during an argument.
According to a decision by the Police Complaints Commission, the unnamed constable was at fault and abused his authority in the incident.
The reasons provided for the suspension were: the severity of the constable's actions; there was no doubt that the constable was at fault; and that a police constable must be able to "stand above a verbal confrontation" with citizens and "not use any form of unjustifiable force."
The July 30, 1999, incident started when a road maintenance crew was installing reflective markers on the road. The crew was using a work truck with a flashing arrow board, directing traffic to the right of them when the complainant saw a truck, which turned out to be a police wagon, coming up behind them. The police vehicle started to go to the left, but the complainant motioned for the truck to go around on the right. The police vehicle proceeded to do so, but stopped beside the workers.
The driver was a police constable, who started telling the complainant how they should be directing traffic. The complainant responded by telling the constable to just follow the arrow.
Profanities were exchanged and the complainant asked for the constable's badge number. They continued to argue and the constable sprayed the complainant with pepper spray, then left.
Vancouver police liaison officer Sergeant Ron Fairweather said the matter is now concluded.
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RCMP Pepper Sprays Members of Ban Pepper Spray Group at Housing Demonstration- Nov/99
Some of the protesters pepper sprayed at an Ontario Coaltion Against Poverty affordable housing demo on Parliament Hill Wednesday Nov 17/99 were also in Ottawa distributing flyers for the Coalition for a Federal Ban on Pepper Spray.

OTTAWA Cops Pepper Lawsuit- Feb.20.00 - Ottawa police routinely use pepper spray to subdue unruly suspects, yet the spray may to deadly to use in the first place. Ottawa-Carleton police pepper-sprayed Jean-Paul Gravelle in his home during a search for a suspect who dined and dashed from the nearby Mekong Restaurant. They later realized that Mr. Gravelle was not the person they were seeking.
   Mr. Gravelle is suing the Ottawa-Carleton Police Services Board for injuries to his eyes and lungs he claims were the result of the spraying. He continues to suffer from bronchial asthma and reactive airways dysfunction syndrome, according to the lawsuit.
   The police claimed that if Mr. Gravelle suffered any injuries, the fault lies with the spray itself, not the police. The Police Services Board then filed a third-party claim against the manufacturer, Wyoming-based Defense Technology, for providing a faulty product.
   Although manufacturers and police forces contend that pepper spray is a safe alternative to other types of force, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union state that overdoses of the spray be dangerous, and even lethal, in certain situations.
   There have been at least seven deaths in Canada involving police use of pepper spray, including 25-year-old Terry Norris, who died after he was sprayed during a violent scuffle with Ottawa-Carleton police at a gas station in July 1995.
Web Site: Coalition for a Federal Ban on Pepper Spray
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Aug/12/99 -- ACLU Urges CA Appeals Court to Declare Use of Pepper Spray Dangerous and Cruel
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Media Covers up for Police after Cheerleaders, School Band and Crowd Pepper Sprayed in Denver, Colorado
Date:   Wed, 29 Sep 1999
From: Andrea Brown <teto@holly.ColoState.EDU>

Hello,
    I am a student at Colorado State University in the US. I didn't know of any problems with pepper spray until recently. I am a member of the marching band here, and we recently played at one of our football teams games. This would seem logical.
The game was against the school rival University of Colorado. The game was played in Denver at Mile High Stadium. The game was a good one, however, police thought that the crowd was rowdy. They should have expected as much since CSU rarely beets CU. So towards the end of the game on to the field riot police come, upsetting fans who just want to enjoy the after game ceremony. The band started to play the fight song as much of the stadium cleared, not enough for the police, though. Some fans wanted to rush the field, this was at a maximum 10 people, who were also impaired by alcohol.
The police proceeded to spray these individual with pepper spray. They then sprayed the crowd. Then the worst of all, agreed upon by all those attending, they sprayed the band instructors, the drum majors, and the entire marching band. The cheerleaders and football players were all told to get off the field, the band was left to suffer. They repeatedly sprayed us, think that we, a school sponsored group, was a threat. The police also use tear gas, which for a few days they claimed the students brought not them, and they threw smoke bombs. Band members in all the misery our bodies were in climbed over chairs carrying themselves, their instruments, and sometimes other peoples instruments or even other people. Eventually most of the band exited the stadium only to learn that many people were still inside and unconscious. Members ran back into the stadium, and were again exposed to the gasses just to retrieve to rest of their family, the band. The members of the CU band rushed to help us. They flagged down paramedics, and gave us their water. The incident brought two feuding schools together, but left us all scared. One girl in the crowd of fans that was just trying to leave was gassed. She had an allergic reaction, passed out, and wasn't breathing. Her friend, the daughter of a policeman, did what she was always taught and ran to the police to ask for help. She was screaming that her friend wasn't breathing. The police heard her and came over, however, all he did was spray her with pepper spray directly in the face, and not in any type of short burst.
   As a result of this incident I am in physical therapy to heal my knees from the stress that was applied to them from climbing over row after row of chairs to get away from the pepper gas sprayed at me.
I found this website informative, but it also made me even more angry. I thought that you might want this information. If you would like more information about the incident please be careful. Many of the newspapers and news broadcasts were very biased about the situation, taking the side of the police. Many people in the community thought that everyone sprayed deserved it, and all they knew was from these resources.
   Thank you for your time in reading about my experience. You can e-mail me at
teto@holly.colostate.edu
Once again thank you,
Andrea Brown
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Tucson police halt pepper spray use (posted Sept/99)
By Phil Villarreal
The Arizona Daily Star

Tucson police have ceased use of pepper spray after an incident yesterday resulted in hospitalization of an aggravated-assault suspect after police used the spray on him. ``Following the second incident involving a deployment of OC (pepper) spray, effective this evening, the Tucson Police Department is temporarily suspending the use of OC spray,'' Assistant Chief Rob Lehner said, referring to oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in the spray.
``This is the second unusual situation. We need to look at it.'' Lehner was referring to the Aug. 8 incident in which Tyrone Johnson died
after officers sprayed him with pepper spray. Police would not release the names of the two officers involved in last night's incident. Police Sgt. Brett Klein said they pulled the man - described as a 6-foot-7, 325-pound black man - off a 56-year-old female employee of Calabro Reporting Services, 549 N. Sixth Ave. She had called police at 3:49 p.m. to report that she was working alone and the man was scaring her.
When officers arrived, they saw the man choking the woman. Police began punching him, but the man would not release his grasp, Klein said. The man eventually released the woman and became combative, and both officers pepper-sprayed him. Klein said the man's mouth began to foam, then his medical condition worsened. Officers then called for ambulances to take the man and the victim to hospitals.
The 24-year-old man, whose name police would not release pending notification of his family, was in critical but stable condition at a
Hospital last night.
The victim was in stable condition at a second hospital. Preliminary toxicology reports show that the man had cocaine and marijuana in his system.Tucson police say none of their suspects has ever been killed by pepper spray, but watchdog groups say the spray has caused 60 deathsnationwide since law enforcement agencies put it into widespread use about nine years ago.
The spray, a derivative of cayenne, causes the eyes to sting and can temporarily paralyze the larynx, which can cause gagging and shortness
of breath. Last night's incident came at a critical time for the Tucson Police Department, which has been facing heat from the public since an Aug. 8 incident in which Johnson, a former high school football star, died after an officer tagged him with pepper spray.
When the 28-year-old Johnson resisted arrest at a midtown gas station and ran away, Officer Eric Murch subdued him by using pepper spray and hitting him with a baton. Murch finally caught up with Johnson in a neighborhood carport, then arrested him.
According to police and eyewitnesses, Johnson complained that he had asthma while police and Tucson Fire Department agents tried to wash the spray off him with a garden hose. Johnson died 45 minutes later in an ambulance on the way to Kino Community Hospital.
Preliminary results of an Internal Affairs investigation of Murch and Officer Floyd Ginn, who assisted with the arrest, indicate that the officers acted appropriately. An autopsy ruled out bruises on Johnson's body and head as possible causes of his death. The cause of death will not be determined until toxicology tests are complete. Police have said that Johnson had cocaine and opiates in his system when he died.
More than 100 people marched on South Park Avenue last Friday to demand that police be held accountable for Johnson's death.
His family has arranged for an independent autopsy.
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Ottawa Police to sue pepper spray manufacturer - June 99 - The Ottawa-Carleton Police Services Board is suing pepper spray manufacturer Defense Technology due to safety problems with the weapon.
   The legal action against Defense Technology comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Jean-Paul Gravelle. He is suing the force and two police constables over an incident in which police entered his apartment in search of a suspect who had left a nearby restaurant without paying. Mr. Gravelle, who was not the man police were looking for, was sprayed by one of the constables.
   He continues to suffer from bronchial asthma and reactive airways dysfunction syndrome as a result of the spraying. The allege that any injuries sustained by Mr. Gravelle are the responsibility of manufacturer. They contend that the spray was supposed to be harmless.
Defense Technology is one of the largest suppliers of pepper spray. The company manufactured the spray used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to quash a demonstration at the 1997 APEC summit in Vancouver.
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Tucson police halt pepper spray use
By Phil Villarreal
The Arizona Daily Star - Aug/99
   Tucson police have ceased use of pepper spray after an incident yesterday resulted in hospitalization of an aggravated-assault suspect after police used the spray on him.
``Following the second incident involving a deployment of OC (pepper) spray, effective this evening, the Tucson Police Department is temporarily suspending the use of OC spray,'' Assistant Chief Rob Lehner said, referring to oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in the spray.
``This is the second unusual situation. We need to look at it.'' Lehner was referring to the Aug. 8 incident in which Tyrone Johnson died after officers sprayed him with pepper spray.
Police would not release the names of the two officers involved in last night's incident. Police Sgt. Brett Klein said they pulled the man - described as a 6-foot-7, 325-pound black man - off a 56-year-old female employee of Calabro Reporting Services, 549 N. Sixth Ave. She had called police at 3:49 p.m. to report that she was working alone and the man was scaring her.
When officers arrived, they saw the man choking the woman. Police began punching him, but the man would not release his grasp, Klein said. The man eventually released the woman and became combative, and both officers pepper-sprayed him. Klein said the man's mouth began to foam, then his medical condition worsened. Officers then called for ambulances to take the man and the victim to hospitals. The 24-year-old man, whose name police would not release pending notification of his family, was in critical but stable condition at a hospital last night.
The victim was in stable condition at a second hospital.
Preliminary toxicology reports show that the man had cocaine and marijuana in his system.
Tucson police say none of their suspects has ever been killed by pepper spray, but watchdog groups say the spray has caused 60 deaths nationwide since law enforcement agencies put it into widespread use about nine years ago.
The spray, a derivative of cayenne, causes the eyes to sting and can temporarily paralyze the larynx, which can cause gagging and shortness of breath.
Last night's incident came at a critical time for the Tucson Police Department, which has been facing heat from the public since an Aug. 8 incident in which Johnson, a former high school football star, died after an officer tagged him with pepper spray.
When the 28-year-old Johnson resisted arrest at a midtown gas station and ran away, Officer Eric Murch subdued him by using pepper spray and hitting him with a baton. Murch finally caught up with Johnson in a neighborhood carport, then arrested him.
According to police and eyewitnesses, Johnson complained that he had asthma while police and Tucson Fire Department agents tried to wash the spray off him with a garden hose.
Johnson died 45 minutes later in an ambulance on the way to Kino Community Hospital.
Preliminary results of an Internal Affairs investigation of Murch and Officer Floyd Ginn, who assisted with the arrest, indicate that the officers acted appropriately.
An autopsy ruled out bruises on Johnson's body and head as possible causes of his death. The cause of death will not be determined until toxicology tests are complete. Police have said that Johnson had cocaine and opiates in his system when he died.
More than 100 people marched on South Park Avenue last Friday to demand that police be held accountable for Johnson's death. His family has arranged for an independent autopsy.
--------

Pepper Spray Again – Mar/99 - The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is calling for a government review of the use of dogs and pepper spray by Ottawa police against striking civil servants. Allan Borovoy said yesterday that an independent review should be standard after such confrontations. ``There have been a number of worrying incidents across the country,'' Borovoy said, referring to the RCMP's use of pepper spray on students at an Asia-Pacific summit in Vancouver. Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police officials pepper-sprayed several people and a German shepherd bit a man at a recent protest by several hundred members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
--------

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) _ A police officer was fired Monday for using pepper spray in a confrontation with a 77-year-old woman who had stopped her car on the wrong side of the road to get her mail....

ROANOKE, Va. -- A police officer was fired Monday for using pepper spray in a confrontation with a 77-year-old women who had stopped her car on the wrong side of the road to get her mail.

Russell L. Metcalf, an eight year veteran of the police force, had been suspended with pay during an investigation.

Goldie Akers drove down her driveway Nov. 8 to get her mail and her car was facing the wrong way on the road when Metcalf stopped and asked if there was a problem. Sgt. Allen Camden said Ms. Akers drove away from Metcalf and backed up her driveway. Metcalf followed and asked to see her license and registration, Camden said. Ms. Akers refused to talk, and Metcalf warned her he would arrest her unless she showed him the documents.

When she cracked open her window, Metcalf sprayed pepper spray into the car and arrested her on reckless driving and obstructing justice charges.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RCMP knew of spray dangers (Dec/10/98)
Staff Sgt. Hugh Stewart, one of the Mounties who pepper-sprayed protesters at last year's APEC summit, was advised just months earlier of the "potentially lethal" effects of the crowd-control agent.
A memorandum prepared by a doctor in the RCMP's health services directorate concluded pepper spray could cause severe breathing problems, eye damage or even death.
The assertion that pepper spray is potentially lethal for some subjects is probably true," says the June 1997 memo by Dr. Jeremy Brown, the force's chief of occupational health. It found the spray could induce a life-threatening asthma attack in a susceptible person. The memo noted the higher the pressure in the spray canister, the closer the canister to the eye and the more accurate the spray, the greater the risk of severe harm to the eye. "The damage may, in certain circumstances, result in loss of vision."
The document was addressed to 10 individuals, including Sgt. Stewart, head of the RCMP quick-response teams at the meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders in November last year.

The Times
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk
One must register first for free use.
letters@the-times.co.uk
Cancer risk from police CS spray
BY STEWART TENDLER, CRIME CORRESPONDENT
Sat, 21 Nov 1998

CS SPRAYS which have been used on 10,000 people are a serious hazard that could cause cancer or deformities, according to a scientists' report that has been kept secret by the Home Office.

Porton Down scientists told the Government last year that the chemical used to turn CS powder into the sprays used by nearly all British police forces contain a solvent called MIBK, which could be poisonous and, in the long term, carcinogenic and mutagenic.

A 1996 report by the same unit on the sprays was placed in the House of Commons library. But a second report, commissioned by the Home Office to investigate the concerns raised, has never been released. It has, however, now been leaked to *Police Review* magazine.

The use of the chemical in sprays has also been criticised by *The Lancet*, which pointed out that it was also used in paints and paint strippers. And last month the Health Department referred the sprays to two scientific committees.

The Porton Down report published in 1996 suggested that a solvent called methyl chloride would be safer than MIBK, but it is banned by the EU.

After considering that report, the Home Office's police scientific research department commissioned a second study,which was completed last November. This time three Porton Down scientists analysed worldwide research and looked at 16 possible solvents, grading them from 0 to 4 for hazard and toxicity. They rated MIBK at 3, which was as serious and unsafe to use. The report also looked at confirmed or suspected carcinogenic or mutagenic properties. On these criteria eight, including MIBK, were regarded as unsafe to use.

Yesterday the Home Office admitted that scientists were looking for alternatives to MIBK, or methyl isobutyl ketomine. A spokesman denied that pressure from the police had led to a rush to introduce the sprays without adequate tests.
==============

Letter by Joe Cummins, Professor of Genetics, in London,Ontario and published as the lead letter to the editor in The Toronto Star on November 11, 1998.
[STUDIES WARN THAT PEPPER SPRAY POTENTIALLY LETHAL]

Pepper spray is used by police to subdue individuals or crowds. It is also available to individuals for self-defence (or offence).

The product contains a solution with 10 per cent to 2 per cent of the chemical capsaicin (capsicum or oleoresin capsicum).

Capsaicin is the "hot" in the chili peppers whose hottest varieties contain only 0.5 per cent at most.

Pepper spray is sold in large spray bottles for use in crowd control or as a "clam" pack in a belt holster for individual treatment.

According to Amnesty International, pepper spray can cause burning eye irritation, nausea, choking and vomiting in people sprayed.

It can have deadly side effects when sprayed in confined spaces or on asthmatics or people with other medical conditions.

Studies warn that pepper spray is potentially lethal and its use was rejected in the United Kingdom because it may cause cancer.

Even slight exposure causes urinary retention with irritation of bladder and prostate. Slight exposure may lead to hypothermia.

The natural drug interferes with glucose uptake and many complicate diabetic conditions. It is implicated in cancers of the duodenum.

Capsaicin caused polypoid adenoma cancer of the cecum in mice fed a diet with .03 per cent capsaicin. chili was active in colon cancer in animals but that activity was ameliorated by other dietary factors such as coconut kernel.

An epidemiological study showed that people who consume large quantities of chili with their meals had a 17-fold greater risk of gastric cancer.

The natural product was implicated in elevated liver cancer in tropical Africa. Capsaicin caused gene damage in hamster cells in culture and in mice.

Use of the pepper spray is potentially immediately lethal and its use must be accompanied by clear warning of its effects to allow asthmatics and diabetics (for example) to clear the area.

The Canadian Prime Minister joked that the spray may be preferred to use of baseball bats on crowds but in reality the spray may be more lethal, and lead to painful and lingering death, than the use of bats or clubs.

Officials promoting use of the lethal toxin without health warning are more than just negligent; they are perverse and probably criminal as the side effects of the toxin are well-known.

NC Autopsy Causes OC Safety Concerns
During the early morning hours of July 11, 1993, Angelo Robinson (a six-foot, one-inch, 308 pound, 24-year-old Black male) died after a violent confrontation with Concord, North Carolina, police officers. Robinson had been sprayed with OC (oleoresin capsicum, or "pepper spray") during the incident. The medical examiner, Dr. Lisa M. Flannagan, reported the cause of death as "Asphyxia due to bronchospasm precipitated by pepper spray." In the Summary and Interpretation section of her report, Dr. Flannagan wrote, "The decedent complained of respiratory difficulty and subsequently collapsed soon after being sprayed with this substance. . . . There is no physical injury to explain his death. Based on the temporal relationship between his being sprayed with the pepper spray and his apparent respiratory compromise and rapid demise, I believe that this agent served as the precipitating factor in the chain of events. Mr. Robinson had a significant underlying pulmonary condition that conceivably predisposed him to hyper-reactive airways. In addition, his enlarged heart may have made him more susceptible to a cardiac arrhythmia under conditions off hypoxemia and stress." Robinson's alcohol content was measured at .14 BAC.
-------------------

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Police fired pepper spray at thousands of demonstrators and bombarded a mosque with tear gas Saturday, turning an anti-government protest into a riot.
   By midnight, a standoff between the two sides had drawn about 1,000 protesters and hundreds of riot police, whose helicopters circled above. Dozens of people were arrested and injured in Malaysia's capital.
   Demonstrators have carried out a series of protests since ousted deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was jailed last month. Protesters demand political reforms, the end of Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir's 17-year rule and the release of Anwar.
   Police have declared all demonstrations in support of Anwar illegal. The former heir apparent to Mahathir has pleaded innocent to charges of graft and sexual misconduct and is awaiting trial.
   The government has threatened to arrest demonstrators under the country's dreaded Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detainment without trial.
   At the afternoon demonstration, protesters taunted police in a downtown shopping district. Officers warned women and children to get off the streets, which were packed with weekend shoppers, then huge police trucks lumbered into the area and fired blue foam pepper spray that scattered thousands of people, crying and coughing from the stinging chemical.
   Police in civilian clothes, some wearing ski masks, chased people through department stores and down side streets, grabbing them and tossing them into waiting vans. Some were slapped, kicked and wrestled to the ground.
   Police dragged one middle-aged woman from a department store after she shouted that they were cruel. A
Policewoman carried the woman's eggs and vegetables while police pulled her into the street. Her husband called out, ''Are you trying to kill my wife?''
   Some of those detained Saturday were holding shopping bags and it was unclear whether they were passers-by or had intended to join the demonstration.
   ''It's inhumane. We were here to collect curtain fabric,'' said one woman who was afraid to give her name, her young daughter clutching her arm and rubbing her stinging eyes.
   Police followed protesters to a mosque where they had gathered for evening prayers and to regroup. Police lobbed tear gas into the building and protesters responded by chasing officers and pelting them with stones.
   An Anwar supporter who asked not to be identified said the afternoon protest turned ugly when police began arresting people at random.
   ''It's sheer frustration,'' he said.
   Some 400 riot police surrounded the capital's Freedom Square to ward off any gathering there.
   Anwar has been denied bail and will begin trial on Nov. 2 on 10 counts of corruption and illegal homosexual acts. He has condemned the charges as false and politically motivated.
        © Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

from Don Weitz
This brief news article was published in The Globe and Mail ("Canada's National Newspaper") on October 23,1998. This story is not completely accurate.

Re the 1995 ACLU study, this story is very selective and inaccurate. For example, it doesn't mention the fact that all 26 deaths occurred while the men were in custody (e.police stations or jail cells). It also omits mentioning that approximately 100 pepper-spray deaths have already occurred in the USA, including approximately 35 in California, and it omits mentioning at least two key study conclusions: "There is clear evidence pepper spray poses serious risks if it is used on people with respiratory disease, especially asthma", and "There is a strong association between use of pepper spray in combination with police restraint techniques, like the controversial hog-tie, and death."(p.iii, Executive Summary, "Pepper Spray Update: More Fatalities, More Questions"). The story also falsely implies that "psychiatric disorders" "dulled them to pain sensations". In fact,insensitivity to pain and some symptoms of disease is a common and
serious effect of neuroleptic drugs.

This story also claims the RCMP stated that there have been "no deaths in Canada linked to police use of pepper spray...". The RCMP is dead wrong. In fact, there have been three such deaths in Ontario alone in one 15-month period - all victims were psychiatric survivors: Stefan Stefanik,44,labelled "paranoid schizophrenic", died after police sprayed him twice in June 1994, Scott Andrew Ambeault, 33, died in June 1995 after police repeatedly sprayed him, and 26-year-old Zdravko Pukec,"a blind schizophrenic", died in Whitby Psychiatric Hospital on September 26 1995, 30 minutes after Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) sprayed him at almost point-blank range on the ward ("Deaths raise doubts on Pepper spray," The Toronto Star, Oct.17,1996). These facts were also not mentioned in The Globe & Mail piece below.

[Pepper spray risky, study says]
1993-1995
Ottawa - Police use of pepper spray may be appropriatre in some cases, but its misuse can pose a risk to people with heart, lung or other health problems or who are under the influence of narcotics or alcohol, a study by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California suggests.

The 1995 study of 26 people who died in the United States after being pepper sprayed says the misuse of the chemical agent may have been a contributing factor.

ACLU spokesman John Crew said yesterday that the group generally approves of the careful use of pepper spray as a non-lethal method of subduing violent individuals, but police must be trained so they don't exceed the recommended maximum dosage of a single, one-second burst to the face.

In the 26 cases, 24 of the individuals were under the influence of drugs or alcohol and two had acute psychiatric disorders, conditions that may have dulled them to pain sensations, Mr.Crew said. When they failed to respond, the police may have applied even more, resulting in excessive dosages that contributed to heart or lung failure, the ACLU study said.

The RCMP, which is defending itself from charges that its pepper spraying of demonstrators at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit last year constituted excessive use of force, says there have been no deaths in Canada linked to police use of pepper spray and no permanent injuries.
(Staff)

Oct 22/978 The Coalition for a Federal on Pepper Spray received a report that CBC dealt with the pepper issue today >> CBC Radio interviewed a lawyer from California who is an expert on pepper spray. He said the following:
1. Pepper spray is not an appropriate form of crowd control if the objective is dispersal. It makes no sense to immobilize people who immediately fall to the ground if the purpose is to remove them from the location.
2. The instructions of the manufacturer emphasize that only a short spurt may be used. To keep spraying and spraying like the RCMP did in Vancouver is extremely dangerous and is entirely contrary even to the prescriptions
of the manufacturers themselves.
3. Pepper spray is many times more harmful than Mace, and even in small doses has caused numerous deaths in vulnerable individuals.
4. Pepper spray is specifically prohibited in the State of California as a method of crowd control. It can only be used in one circumstances, and that is in a one on one situation in which an assailant is posing a threat to life. Even then, only a small spurt can be used, and if it does not succeed, the person being attacked must be ready with other means of defence. >>

The Ottawa Citizen Online
Thursday 22 October 1998
Pepper spray's lethal legacy

The Ottawa Citizen
CBC Television / APEC's Defining Moment: RCMP Staff Sgt. Hugh Stewart sprays Def-Tech's MK-46 First Defense Red Pepper Spray into a group of protesters at last year's APEC summit in Vancouver. While the American Civil Liberties Union argues that pepper spray is potentially lethal -- Def-Tech itself says a dose lasting longer than a single second could cause health problems in some people -- Carleton professor Paul Attallah argues that the real long-term damage is being caused to the federal government by this image. See story, A3As many as 100 people have died in the U.S. after being sprayed with the same weapon that was used by the RCMP at the APEC
summit. Glen McGregor reports. The prime minister considers pepper spray a preferable alternative to baseball bats and water cannon, but the use of the "less-than-lethal" weapon to control crowds is not without risks. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that as many as 100 people have died in the United States after being sprayed with the same substance used by the RCMP to quell demonstrations at last year's APEC conference in Vancouver. A 1995 report by the ACLU's
Southern California branch detailed 26 fatalities resulting from police encounters in which pepper spray was used. The deaths studied occurred in California over a 29-month period, at rate of nearly one death per month. U.S. nationwide statistics on pepper spray deaths are not available, but John Crew, an ACLU lawyer in San Francisco, estimates that the total may now approach 100. He bases this figure on a 1995 newspaper report that totalled more than 60 deaths linked to pepper spraying nationwide. The ACLU says their study suggests that pepper spray may be a "serious complicating factor" when used on people with heart conditions or respiratory problems such as asthma.
It warns that the spray may be ineffective on the mentally ill or people under the influence of drugs. Oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in pepper spray, causes inflammation of the respiratory
system and a painful burning sensation in the eyes and skin. The ACLU's report noted that none of the 26 deaths studied were attributed directly to pepper spray alone, but claimed that so little
was known about the effects of oleoresin capsicum, that coroners may not have considered it a factor during autopsies. Of the 26 deaths studied, more than half showed evidence of heart or respiratory conditions. Twenty-four cases involved drugs or alcohol and in the two that didn't, both victims were people with acute psychiatric disorders. The problem, says Mr. Crew, is that the mentally ill and intoxicated people -- particularly those on cocaine or methamphetamines -- do not react properly to the pain caused by the spray. Rather than disable them, the pepper merely triggers a "fight or flight" instinct, often causing them to become more violent and aggressive. This reaction can lead to more spraying by police and result in an overdose. The ACLU also noted that a California government agency studying pepper spray fatalities reported "untoward reactions" to pepper spray may have been a contributing cause of deaths in the state. California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment concluded in 1994 that the spray may have
"exacerbated underlying conditions" that caused cardiac or respiratory failure. The report quoted a document from the manufacturer of pepper spray used at APEC that warned about excessive
use of the substance.Defense Technology Corp (Def-Tech) of Casper, Wyoming, supplies capsicum spray to numerous law enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago police departments. In an internal research proposal to study the effects of the spray, a Def-Tech official noted that anything more than a one-second burst may cause added health risks. This is particular relevant, the company noted, in the cases of people under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or the mentally ill. According to the ACLU, Def-Tech's studies of their product were not continued.An RCMP spokesman was unable to provide the brand name of the pepper spray the force uses, but videotape of the APEC demonstration show RCMP officers brandishing the Def-Tech's MK-46 First Defense Red Pepper Spray. A Def-Tech distributor's catalogue describes the MK-46 as a "riot extinguisher" and calls it "the ideal solution to riots and cell extractions." The catalogue notes that the active ingredient in the spray is mixed with an "environmentally-safe propellant."Mr. Crew says there is currently "tons of litigation" against police in the wake of these deaths. He wonders why the RCMP would use pepper spray to disperse a crowd. "From a crowd control perspective, pepper spray is a stupid weapon to use if you want them to move. It causes them to drop to the ground. "Tear gas is often a preferred method of dispersing a crowd, as it hangs in the air and causes people to run to escape the fumes.In the U.S., using pepper spray indiscriminately on a crowd would lead to allegations of civil liberties violations, says Mr. Crew, because "it's extremely rare that everyone you are spraying is involved in violent resistance." Moreover, it would be difficult to tell whether anyone in crowd was intoxicated or mentally
ill and therefore at risk for an adverse reaction.Mr. Crew says it's unheard of for police in San Francisco, where he works, to use pepper spray on a crowd. Dewayne Tully, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, says his force uses pepper spray mostly for one-on-one confrontations and does not use it for crowd control or dispersal. "As far as I know, it has not been used in a crowd control situation, with a lot of officers just spraying it all over the place." RCMP spokesman Sgt. Andre Guertin says the force does not prohibit pepper spray use in crowds. He says it's just one step in the continuum of the "less-than-lethal force" the Mounties may use. "The next logical continuum may be the use of a tactical squad. When someone comes to you with a knife, it's better to him them with pepper spray than to shoot them."Sgt. Guertin points out that,
whatever its risks, the use of pepper spray at APEC allowed the RCMP to avoid escalation to a higher level of force. "The dogs that were there could have been let loose on the protesters, but they weren't. The impact of a dog's teeth is probably longer lasting than the effect of pepper spray."According to an RCMP policy document, pepper spray has been extensively tested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and has never caused adverse effects in anyone, including people with respiratory illnesses or heart problems. But the accuracy of FBI data on the safety of pepper spray has been in question ever since the conviction of a senior bureau agent on conflict-of-interest charges. Special Agent Thomas Ward of the Firearms Training Unit in Quantico, Virginia, authored a 1989 study that approved pepper spray for use by the FBI. In February 1996, he pleaded guilty to charges of accepting $57,000 in payments from the manufacturer of Cap-Stun, a pepper spray brand he had tested for the FBI. Following Agent Ward's conviction, the FBI announced that it
would review the study done at Quantico, but would continue to use pepper spray in the field. The RCMP document refers to pepper spray's failure rate on people in drug-induced states and "goal oriented people."Concerns about the health effects of the spray are echoed by U.S. army report summarizing research on capsaicin, the substance which gives oleoresin capiscum its punch. It abstracted research that showed the capsaicin can cause long-term desensitization of the airways in humans -- contrary to the popular perception that pepper spray causes no long term health effects. Another study in 1987 showed that in certain dosages, capsaicin caused complex effects on
the cardiovascular system of rats. Research as far back as 1962 showed capsaicin can play a role in the development of esophageal cancer in other mammals. The army's research overview concluded that the active ingredients in Cap-Stun pepper spray can cause a wide variety of adverse effects and is therefore used at risk on large groups of people.

Pepper Spray and In-Custody Deaths," John Granfield, Jami Onnen and Charles S. Petty, M.D.,
http://www.policeforce.org/
International Association of Chiefs of Police, Science and Technology Executive Brief, March 1994. This is "must" reading! More than merely debunking rumors of OC deaths, this brief provides comprehensive information on in-custody deaths in general. Write IACP, 515 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314 or fax your request to 703-836-4543.

[Pepper spray rides the rocket:TTC adopts potentially-lethal chemical, by Nicola Luksic, The Varsity, October 26, 1998]
Members of the community are alarmed that the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) was given the green light to carry pepper-spray recently.
The infamous pepper-spray, which has caused a national uproar over its alleged misappropriate use during an APEC summit in fall of 1997, is now being carried by the TTC security staff to "stop dangerous activity by anybody",according to commission spokesperson Marilyn Bolton.
"The use of pepper-spray is a much gentler way to deal with a violent issue than the use of a billy club," she explained, echoing the defence presented by prime minister Jean Chretien early last week.
"Our people don't carry guns. We much prefer to use less violent ways to solve problems." She adds that all 53 security staff who carry the spray, also called oleoresin capsicum, have been trained.
"We have a moral obligation to anyone who might be a danger to themselves or asnyone else," she added after boasting that over a million people everyday use the TTC and that incidents of violent attack are rare.
But Don Weitz, a member and co-founder of People Against Coercive Treatment, says this protective measure being taken by the TTC will be putting more vulnerable members of society at risk, including the homeless and persons suffering from psychiatric problems.
"Anyone who acts weird is going to be a traget," he speculated. Weitz has written to Bob Runciman, and the Minister of Health Elizabeth Witmer,among other officials to express his grave concerns. To date, he has received no response.
"I'm a little pissed off to say the least," vented Weitz. "This is aserious public health issue."
Weitz points to a report published, researched adnd released in 1995 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California which claims that pepper-spray caused or had been involved in over 70 deaths in the United States at that time. "Pepper Spray Update: More Fatalities,MNore Questions" documents the deaths of 26 men in their 30s who died in custody shortly after being pepper-sprayed.
At present, both the Ontario Provincial Police and Metro Toronto Police carry pepper spray, and Bolton says TTC security staff can now save time for police officers whose duties are "stretched."
The police say that the employment of pepper spray during crisis situations is legitimate.
"I really don't care," said Metro Toronto media relations constable Jim Muscat in reference to TTC staff being granted the permission to use the powerful and normally illegal spray. "If you have to subdue people in the subway, go right ahead."
Yet students and TTC users are somewhat wary of the security staff's new security option.
"I hope that they would use it appropriately," said third year student Allison Glowdon who occasionally uses TTC services, adding that she understands how in some situations, pepper-spray might be useful for self-defense.
"It's really inhumane," said Donna Powers, a University of Windsor student who was taking a course on conflict resolution at Sidney Smith hall. "Well-trained security should not have to resort to it."
Powers had been the target of pepper-spray a few years ago during a small logging protest in Quebec.
"We don't come to the city very often,"said her companion Karen Smallwood after expressing apprehension of using TTC. "But we were really impressed by the friendliness of TTC staff. They were really helpful. I see no reason why they might have to resort to pepper-spray. Carrying it makes them seem more threatening."
To date, Bolton is not aware of anyone being at the spray's receiving end.

Citizens Should Object to the Toronto's Star Poor Fact Sheet on Pepper Spray Effects.
Protest Letter - October 21, 1998
From Gary Morton
Coalition for a Federal Ban on Pepper Spray & the Use of Chemical Weapons on Canadian Citizens.
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/pepper.htm

Though I have e-mailed the Toronto Star with facts on the deadly effects of pepper spray, they totally ignore that information, and in today's issue posted the rosy fact sheet below on the front page.
----------------
cut from the Star front page

What pepper spray does to you --
Eyes tear up, and can swell and turn red.
Nose runs as membrane generates fluid to flush out irritant.
Throat burns.
Doesn't cause severe skin irritation.
Worst symptoms can last five to 10 minutes.
It takes 24 hours to completely leave system.
There are no long-term effects.
Active ingredient is capsaicin, a cayenne pepper extract.
------------------

In the same issue of the Star a news item on the APEC RCMP INQUIRY contains information that directly contradicts the Star's fact sheet. A short while ago the Star posted a poorly reasoned editorial supporting the use of pepper spray by TTC cops, and my feeling is they may be coloring their facts on pepper spray to avoid any embarrassment of editorial staff.

Here is info clipped from the other article in Today's Star
---------
Mounties Gave Students Just Nine Seconds to Run --
Dozens of students protesting at last fall's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit were sprayed with a cayenne pepper-based mixture that's more powerful than tear gas. ......... A top Mountie gave APEC protesters only nine seconds to move before dousing them in pepper spray, leaving them choking and gasping, a witness told hearings into RCMP conduct yesterday. CBC TV cameraman Rob Douglas was in the area shooting footage when the order was issued. Soon after, the liquid was dripping off Douglas' camera lens and he was gasping for air. ``It was intense, an intense burning, and I had difficulty breathing. I was just able to see, and my face burned for hours,'' said Douglas, who has covered protests in Indonesia, Uganda, Korea and East Timor. ``I've been tear-gassed and pepper spray is far worse. You can run from tear gas.'' Douglas' footage has been seen by millions of Canadians.
There were several clashes between protesters and police, but Douglas' clip has fueled criticism of RCMP conduct. The clip shows Staff Sergeant Hugh Stewart approaching a group of protesters blocking a road to be used by leaders' motorcades, then spraying them with the pepper spray.
It took only 23 seconds for Stewart to arrive, order protesters to leave and start spraying. A three-member panel of the complaints commission is hearing testimony from more than 120 witnesses to assess police conduct during the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit last November. Douglas was summonsed to testify before the hearing. He was accompanied by a CBC lawyer. Douglas said Stewart gave no warning before taking action. ``Are you asking me, was it deliberate? I would say it was, because (Stewart) looked me square in the eye before he opened fire,'' he said.
Douglas was asked if he has seen a non-violent crowd-control tactic that Stewart could have applied. ``Yes,'' the cameraman replied. ``Speech.'' --------------------------

As you see the Star news item reports choking and gasping and severe skin burning that lasted for hours, yet the Star has the nerve to report that it doesn't cause severe skin irritation and that the worst effects last only five to ten minutes.

Here are the effects of pepper spray documented from the archive of news clips on the coalition's page.
http://www.interlog.com/~cjazz/pepper.htm
This information is not secret and in the interest of properly informing the public I am emailing APEC ALERT, the Citizens list and others, requesting that people use the contact info at bottom to contact the Star and request that they publish the other side of pepper spray effects. The horrible effects we have documented.

Here they are
   Let me begin by noting that the uniform effects idea in the Star fact sheet are incorrect. Pepper Spray varies widely in the severity of its effects, depending on who is sprayed and on their health and physical characteristics.
   Pepper Spray does not bring about a peaceful resolution to rowdy protests; it increases confusion and can lead to more violence.
   The effects the coalition documents are from news articles and data gathered from citizens who have been sprayed by police. Pepper Spray is too dangerous to even test as you might kill the test subject with it. As the Star article shows - police abuse its use. In 32 Ontario complaints involving pepper spray half the complainants were already in some form of custody when they were sprayed. The spray is often just used as form of state sanctioned torture.
        Pepper Spray could not be used against another country or we would be international war criminals. The spray is a banned substance under the international convention prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. In Police situations the means for necessary decontamination of a person sprayed are usually not available. Pepper Spray runs counter to democracy as people who fear being sprayed will not speak out or demonstrate.

Deadly Effects of Pepper Spray
Severe pain to the skin and scalp, and this persists, often forcing the victim to shave off contaminated hair. Pain can last for months.
Pepper Spray attacks membranes and causes serious burning and pain to the genitals.
Pepper Spray is toxic, and it causes severe gastritis & diarrhea.
Pepper Spray causes severe breathing problems.
Pepper Spray kills but that rarely comes out as the deaths are usually related to positional asphyxia and cardiac arrests that occur a while after spraying. A person sprayed cannot withstand being tied and incarcerated and dies due to weakened lungs and heart. There have been 26 of these cases in California where people who were pepper sprayed died.
Heart Attacks - Pepper Spray has the potential for inducing life threatening irregular heart beats, even in healthy people, especially if they are physically stressed in the immediate aftermath of pepper spray exposure.
Pepper Spray gas causes the protective layer across the eye to become denuded, which can lead to blindness.
Pepper Spray in crowd control is used on psychiatric patients and on people in poor health. Tests have not been done as to its interaction with medication and disease.
============
To Protest here is the contact info for The Toronto Star The Toronto Star One Yonge St. Toronto, ON M5E 1E6 Phone: 416-367-2000
Editorial - To complain about inaccuracy or unfairness in The Star's news coverage, send an email to ombud@thestar.ca or fax us at (416) 869-4322 To write a letter to the editor, send e-mail to lettertoed@thestar.ca or fax us at (416) 869-4322 editorial@thestar.ca
Our mailing address is The Toronto Star, One Yonge St, Toronto, Canada, M5E 1E6. Our fax number is (416) 869-4328.
investigative team amayers@thestar.ca. pbingle@thestar.ca.
==================

Officer pepper-sprays Bailey Bridge pupil Tuesday, October 13, 1998
BY KRISTEN NOZ Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

     A Chesterfield County school resource officer used pepper spray on an unruly middle school pupil Friday after she was unable to control him physically.
   The seventh-grader, who attends Bailey Bridge Middle School near Hull Street Road, was sent to an assistant principal's office after he became disruptive in class, said Police Sgt. Hal Moser. Once in the office, the pupil was disorderly and cursed administrators, so the resource officer was called to the office to help. The names of the pupil and the resource officer, who is a uniformed police officer, were not released.
   The officer arrested the pupil for disorderly conduct and cursing abuse, Moser said. She tried to persuade him to cooperate so she could drive him home to his parents. The pupil refused to go with her. She then told him she would place him in handcuffs if he resisted. When the pupil resisted her attempts and pushed her, she used the pepper spray to regain control, he said. After being sprayed, the pupil cooperated, apologized for his actions and let the officer take him home, Moser said.
   The pupil was charged with cursing abuse, resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. He is to appear in Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court at a later date, he said.
   The police department investigates cases where an officer uses force to ensure that the actions were appropriate for the situation. At this point, the department believes her actions were appropriate, Moser said.
.......................
   Anthony Noble, the father of another Bailey Bridge pupil, thinks the officer's actions were extreme. His 13-year-old son, Dennis, was not involved in the confrontation. But Dennis, who has asthma, reacted to the spray when it got into the air in his classroom. Dennis started coughing and was taken to Chippenham Medical Center, where he was treated. "I am upset because this action by this police officer put other children in jeopardy, not just the child who was sprayed," Noble said. "I am just upset that the police department thought it was OK to have this stuff to use on kids."
   ....................................

More pepperspray, more arrests in Humbolt - Earth First! vows further action
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998
From: Robert Cherwink <rc@vom.com>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"You could hear the screams of pain," Wagner said. "It was an obvious attempt to torture one person enough to intimidate everyone."
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Humboldt deputies arrest 13 protesters Earth First! vows further action
Oct. 9, 1998
By ANDREW LaMAR Press Democrat Staff Writer

For the second straight day Thursday, Humboldt County authorities descended on Earth First! protesters, used pepper spray and carted activists off to jail.

In all, sheriff's deputies arrested 13 protesters on charges ranging from trespassing to unlawful assembly, adding to the five apprehended Wednesday during a law enforcement raid on an encampment of activists in the same area.

Earth First! vowed Thursday to continue attempts to block a road leading to the area where activist David Chain died three weeks ago, citing concerns about the integrity of an investigation into his death. Chain was killed by a falling redwood while protesting logging by Pacific Lumber Co. near Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park.

On Thursday morning, nine activists linked themselves together with tubes made of plastic, metal and concrete into which they placed their arms. They then lay across the logging road that runs from Highway 36 to the mountainside where Chain was killed.

More than a dozen officers from the CHP and the Humboldt Sheriff's Department arrived at the scene at 8:30 a.m.

Officers took the protesters' rain tarp and ground pads and, after waiting an hour, threatened to use pepper spray if the protesters didn't disperse, according to Naomi Wagner, an Earth First! member who was present. Officers then applied pepper spray near the eyes of protester Carrie Liz McKee, one member in the chain.

"You could hear the screams of pain," Wagner said. "It was an obvious attempt to torture one person enough to intimidate everyone."

Authorities said they applied the pepper spray according to proposed state guidelines, with gauze pads dipped in the liquid and placed on the corner of McKee's closed eyes. They disputed Wagner's account, that officers poured the spray from the palms of their hands into her eyes on three occasions in a half-hour.

A group of 30 spectators gathered to witness the blockade, Wagner said. When pepper spraying commenced, 12 of the witnesses linked arms and knelt on the center line of Highway 36 to show solidarity, she said.

At roughly 10:30 a.m., officers began to cut the clips to protesters' locks with long-nosed pliers. The first two activists cut from the chain were taken to jail. Seven others were cited and released.

All nine were charged with conspiracy, trespassing and resisting arrest. Officers arrested three others who refused to leave when authorities declared an unlawful assembly at 2:40 p.m.

"This blockade is not over," Wagner said. "Our objectives here are to protect the crime scene, the scene of the death of David "Gypsy' Chain, and to stay there until the investigation is complete and justice is served...and Pacific Lumber ceases illegal logging."

But Pacific Lumber President John Campbell said the company's plans for sustained-yield logging and protecting endangered species habitats are under governmental review. Furthermore, lawmakers have agreed to buy the Headwaters Forest to preserve it. "I think it's important for the public to understand these issues have been resolved on the state and federal level and many very thoughtful people worked on the issues," Campbell said.

The death of Chain, along with Earth First!'s ongoing protests, has prevented Pacific Lumber from logging and kept eight to 10 employees home from work for 18 days, Campbell said.
© 1998 The Press Democrat
http://pressdemo.com
For additional information on Headwaters, Pepperspay, David Chain,
and/or Earth First! see /RENEGADE/ articles at http://fornits.com/renegade/ and use the search feature.
========================================

1) Staff Seargeant Hugh Stewart: "I got the pepper spray...whole bunch of people"

Staff Sergeant Hugh Stewart arrests and pepper sprays protester David Malmo-Levine the day before the APEC summit. David was arrested for "saying foolish things".

Mounties use pepper spray when a fence, held up by plastic twist-ties, collapses on a group of students. Pepper spray was used even more liberally on another group of five students who peacefully approached the police line. At this time, the police heirarchy breaks down completely.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)
Deputy McGuinness: "How are you?"
Unnamed Officer: "Not too bad."
McGuinness: "Hey listen, do you guys have any keg size OC [pepper] spray up there?"
Officer: "We got a can of it sitting right here in my drawer?"
McGuinness: "Big one?"
Officer: "Yeah"
McGuinness: "Okay, un, I wonder if you can get that out to UBC for us."
..
Officer: "Okay"
McGuinness: "You, you, you only got one up there?"
Officer: "Ah well um, I got one in my drawer, hang on here, just a munute."
McGuinness: "Okay"
Officer: (aside) "We got any other keg size OC, Deputy McGuinness is on the phone here. In the berg there's one eh?" "Ah, we've got probably two orthree we can get our hands on.
McGuinness: "If you can as many keg size OC's as you can"

The Mounties run out of pepper spray at lunch time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4) Hugh Stewart: "we're just gonna go down there, we're gonna hit 'em, wham, nail 'em."

Moments later, the Mounties use pepper spray to clear students blocking one of the motorcade routes. Almost no warning is given.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
5) Stewart: "Everybody's contaminated, they can't, I mean they can't even touch their dicks for Christ sakes."

The mounties pepper-spraying is so indiscriminate, that they nail each other.
=====================

The Independent on Sunday, August 9, 1998
http://www.independent.co.uk
sunday-letters@independent.co.uk
[UK NEWS]
Complaints rise against police use of CS

         Protesters sprayed with CS by police claim that official guidelines on its use are routinely ignored by officers. Now they are seeking redress in the courts, reports Julian Kossoff
         When trials of CS spray began in March 1996, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) published a series of guidelines for officers issued with the canisters. The guidelines stated that the spray was to be used only "to gain a tactical advantage in a violent encounter" or "to subdue a violent suspect who cannot otherwise be restrained".
        However, civil liberties campaigners contend that all too frequently, and despite these guidelines, some police officers are "spraying suspects first and asking questions later" in situations where there is no real threat of violence being used against them.
        In May, a small group of animal rights activists, many of them women, gathered to protest at the gates of a live animal exporter, Gilders, base near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. A confrontation with police followed and, according to Gloucestershire police, CS spray was used by officers for their own protection, in accordance with Acpo guidelines.
        Twenty people were arrested but all were released later without charge. The protesters, however, allege the police used the CS spray on the group indiscriminately and that they lost their self control when there was no threat of violence.
         They also claim that police failed to follow proper procedures in the aftermath of CS spray use. While Acpo says the effects of CS spray dissipate after half an hour, protesters claim they were in considerable pain for days after being sprayed.
        Several have now begun legal proceedings for damages against Gloucestershire police, and are using video and photographic evidence recorded at the disturbance. Two protesters (whose names have been changed because of the pending legal action) told their version of events to the Independent on Sunday.
        "James", 27, said: "I was just walking down the road by the perimeter fence when a policeman barred my way and said, 'You can't go any further' and before I could say anything he sprayed me straight in the face.
         "I put my hand up to protect my face but he pulled it away and held on to my arm and squirted me again several times.
         "It was really painful. I used to be in the military and we did experiments with CS gas, but this stuff was much stronger. My eyes were burning and streaming. I was blinded for five minutes. I couldn't breathe- some people with asthma had to go to hospital - and the spray stuck to my skin.
        "You really want to rub your eyes, but you can't because it makes it worse. For hours afterwards my eyes were watering. The vapours were on my clothes and it was so strong that later I was travelling in a car and my companions were also affected.
        "The next day I had really bad diarrhoea. I had dreadlocks at the time so I couldn't wash the CS out of my hair. For a week I was scratching my head - it was torture. In the end, I had to shave all my hair off."
        "Susie", 24, said: "We were cornered up against a fence and the police were just spraying it all over us. I was held down by two police officers and they sprayed me twice. Immediately there was a really bad stinging in my eyes. I couldn't breathe; my throat was burning - it was the worse thing you can imagine. I started going into a panic and I was crying.
        "The police didn't care and I was handcuffed and laid on the floor of a van. The didn't let me breathe fresh air. They didn't even open a window. I was held in a cell for 30 hours and the spray was still on my clothes and in my hair and my eyes were still stinging. They didn't call a doctor and in the end I had to ask for one, but he was no help.
        "CS is really toxic. I still get a rash on my face where it hit. Some landed on my navy jumper and turned it purple. When I was released I went to the hospital. I asked, 'What damage can the spray do to my insides if it can take the colour out of my top?' and the doctor said, 'We don't know'."

info from dweitz@interlog.com (Don Weitz) John and Hazel Coleridge who are Emeritus Professors of Physiology and medical doctors have conducted much of the research on pepper spray. Here is what they have to say. According to their findings pepper spray can provoke “…sudden decrease in heart rate and cardiac output and a profound fall in blood pressure. In experiments in anaesthetized animals, the decrease in heart rate induced when the active agent, capsaicin, stimulates airways and nerve endings is accompanied by slowing, or even a block, of the normal sequences of electrical conduction through the heart. This change, although transient, may have the potential for inducing life threatening arrhythmias (irregular heart beats), even in healthy
people, especially if they are physically stressed in the immediate aftermath of pepper spray exposure.” You can contact the Berkeley Cop Watch and they can help you. No web site their phone number is 415/543-9444 There have been 35 deaths in CA since 1992 caused by pepper spray. Call the Bay Area Police Watch at 543/9444 x248 Pepper Spray is rated or "moderately
toxic", and it causes "severe gastritis & diarrhea. Pepper Spray also causes severe breathing problems In Ontario, at least 4 people including one incarcerated psych survivor killed by pepper spray last 4 years, also 1-2 killed in UK last few months) Call Councillor Jack Layton: (416)392-4060 to oppose pepper spray.
-------------------------------

The Aug 27th edition of the Toronto Sun contains photos being submitted in a lawsuit in California. In the photos police are using cotton squabs to dab pepper spray in the eyes of anti-logging demonstrators who chained themselves together in a protest. Films of the tortured protesters screaming in pain were shown on TV.
--------------------------------

Dear Editor:
     A recent Star article and editorial promoting pepper spray/foam As another weapon for TTC police ("special constables") is ill-informed And irresponsible ("Taking back the night on city transit",Aug.24;"Pepper spray", Aug.25/98). The only health risks mentioned in the editorial are temporary blindness and choking - "The spray is intended to blind and choke but its debilitating
effects are temporary".
      Temporary? A recent UK study published in Lancet, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world, claims that some medical complications of pepper spray (CS spray/gas in the UK) may be permanent. As reported in a recent Sunday edition of the UK's The Independent, a survey found that "among 34 people sprayed, only two recovered within the prescribed
period of 15 minutes and more than half were still suffering symptoms such as blistering, watery eyes and breathing difficulties more than a week later. The long term damage to the eyes is of utmost concern to doctors. Peter Gray, a consultant opthalmologist explained:'CS gas causes the protective layer across the eye to become denuded, which...can lead to blindness.'"
     Death is also a "side effect". According to a recent report from the Northern California branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, 70 citizens in the United States have died from being pepper-sprayed by the police since 1992, including 35 in California and 6 during the last three years as reported by The San Francisco Chronicle-Examiner. In Ontario during the last five years, at
least 4 people have died including two psychiatric survivors. Three years ago, The Toronto Star reported that one victim was 26-year-old Zdravko Pukec,a psychiatric prisoner in Whitby Psychiatric Hospital who died on September 25, 1995--30 minutes after Durham OPP officers sprayed him on a locked ward for the alleged purpose of "restraint"! The inquest was another sham, no OPP officer or psychiatric staff has ever been charged.
     So why are TTC officials, Toronto city councillors and the police lobbying to arm TTC "special constables" with deadly pepper spray? To help socially cleanse the streets of homeless people, squeegers and the "mentally ill"? To attract more tourists to "Toronto the Good"? Good questions to ask the Police Services Board at its September 24 meeting and Toronto City Council when pepper spray will be discussed. Pepper Spray should be banned - not promoted as "the better way".
Don Weitz
Toronto
tel: 416-545-0796
e-mail: dweitz@interlog.co
--------------------------------------

The New Hampshire
DURHAM, N.H. -- A major party turned into a minor riot Sunday morning at an apartment complex on the intersection of Madbury Road and Garrison Avenue when police used pepper spray tried to disperse a crowd of 400 to 500 students.
   Though residents of 37 Garrison Ave. declined comment investigations have revealed that the residents wanted to have a simple post-football game barbecue with 20 friends. However, wandering party-goers started accumulating on their lawn.
   Some students said they were concerned with the way police handled the incident.
    "They were a bit violent, I thought," said sophomore Eric Jaworski, who saw the whole event transpire from his residence on Garrison Avenue. "I've seen other parties broken up much more calmly."
    Mike Nielsen, a junior who inhaled a large portion of the pepper spray, said he was irritated with the strong-arm tactics of police. "I caught some of the death spray, and I feel I'm never going to be the same," he said.
==================

31 Deaths(1996): District Attorney's Investigators Ordered Not to Use Pepper Spray

SAN FRANCISCO -- The District Attorney's office has ordered its investigators not to use pepper spray after two deaths connected to use of the chemical irritant have raised questions about its safety, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

"There's got to be a better way out there," said chief investigator Dan Addario said. "There are too many problems with pepper spray."

None of the DA's 51 investigators appear to have ever used the spray, he said. But "why wait until we have a problem? I've seen enough problems," Addario told the AP.

Addario issued the ban with District Attorney Terence Hallinan's blessing following the death of a 41-year-old Millbrae man of apparent heart failure on April 7, the day after he was subdued with pepper spray.

Last year, robbery suspect Aaron Williams died after he was pepper sprayed and hog tied.

Although pepper spray has not been identified as a primary factor in the deaths of either man, medical researchers have said the stimulant effects of the spray may help cause or exacerbate cardiac arrest in those already high on drugs or otherwise excited.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Garcia was one of 31 people who have died in California since January 1993 after being sprayed with the chemical irritant.

The controversy has prompted other law enforcement agencies, such as the federal Justice Department and the California Highway Patrol, to take a second look at the chile pepper extract.

The San Francisco Police Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on its use next week.

Man Pepper Sprayed for asking police to move car
I was pepper sprayed in Hamilton after an incident with undercover police, they say I had a hold of one of them at the time, however I was not holding anyone I was just a bit under the weather and they had parked there.
Plainclothes officers were blocking my nephews way in a parking lot. I asked them to move and all hell broke loose, end result is me being up on charges of assualt. They felt threatened by me so they tried to bring me down with the spray, however, being the recipient it just made me very very upset and I did try stay on my feet. At this time I did grab an officer ( blindly) and trying to stay on my feet and hung on to him for dear life. After they managed to restrain me 4 male and 1 female , I was not happy at being tied up. I lashed out verbally in any direction I could.( swearing name calling I'm not an angel obviously) but I feel they did abuse my rights. My question is what direction should I take in form of a complaint, this case is still before the courts and I'm on bail at the moment.

Police use of CS (pepper) Spray : Implications for NHS Mental Health Services.

Witness' reports on pepper (CS) spray use in UK Mental Health Trusts
This has been manually retyped from the hard copy by Gustav Mahler as it was missing from the version snailed to me on disc by Ben Thomas.
>From the fifteenth and sixteenth pages of the August issue of Mental Health Care Vol. 1 number 12 pages 403-404.

Fraser Bell BA RMN
Senior research nurse
Maudsley Hospital
Denmark Hill Road
London SE5 8AZ
switchboard
Phone + 44 171 703 6333
Fax:    + 44 171 919 2171
Direct line:
Phone   + 44 171 919 2158
Fax     + 44 171 252 7570

Ben Thomas MSc BSc RMN RGN DipN RNT
Director of clinical services
Maudsley Hospital London
also Chair of Editorial Advisory Board of Mental Health Care
Direct line
Phone: +44 171 919 3770
Fax + 44 171 252 7570

WITNESS 1) ``It's happened maybe a couple of times in recent months. The police have come in and used the spray inside the ward area to knock the person down. The police say if you call for assistance from us, you get what you are given: that their priority is the safety of their officers. If an individual police officer feels threatened they will use spray, and if we don't like it, then don't call them. Personally, I feel that police officers are taking the easy option. They've got this spray available to them and it's easier to use it to knock people down than to grapple with them.. But police aren't trained to deal with people with mental health and behavioural problems; they're trained to deal with violent incidents involving the general public and they don't differentiate between someone who is mentally ill and someone who is drunk and disorderly.''

WITNESS 2) ``The rest of the patients were very frightened--not that it might happen to them, but that they were on the same ward as someone who needed this kind of intervention from the police. Their view was; ``Who are you bringing in here that the police need to resort to this to handle the situation?'' Staff are wondering why they're being asked to deal with someone who is so dangerous they need to be treated like that. It's something that has to be sorted out at higher management level. In some ways, yes it's the business of the police what they use for their job, but our view is that the use of the CS (pepper) spray prevents us doing our job.''

WITNESS 3) ``If the police have got this stuff, whether we agree or disagree with it, if we have to call them in to deal with a violent incident we can't dictate to them what they should and should not do. But it's upsetting for the staff; particularly those who have been affected by it. We have got to draw up some guidelines for our staff on what to tell them when we call them--if the patient is asthmatic, for example. Also when the police bring in a patient, we should be asking what forms of restraint have been needed, if the spray has been used, so we areprepared and can make sure that staff with asthma or respiratory problems don't nurse them. But it's having a knock-on effect on how things are handled in psychiatric units. I know some units are now thinking about using riot shields and protective clothing themselves. From the trust's point of view as an employer, we have a responsibility to protect our staff
from violence.''

WITNESS 4) ``We've had three members of staff violently assaulted by patients in the last six months. One was nearly strangled. Another was dragged down stairs with a knife at her throat. We have an obligation to protect our staff. Yes, some of these people are mentally ill, but this was just a nasty piece of work. He was quite aware of what he was doing and he knew the consequences if he continued. It also made for problems between the patients and staff. Very few of the other patients saw it from the staff point of view. Most of them said it was awful for the police to do it to this fellow. The staff were upset and disappointed that we hadn't been able to defuse the situation ourselves. We've been agonizing about it ever since; should we have been more explicit on the telephone and asked the police to send more than one police officer
so we could have dealt with the situation by physical restraint? Would that have been better or worse? For us or the patient?''

WITNESS 5) ``It undermines trust with the patient. When someone's been sprayed, you can't get that bond because you've got to nurse them from a distance. You can't build empathy. Usually the patient will be very distressed when they come into hospital anyway and in that environment it's very difficult to build up trust. Patients like that need close observation and you have to be in close contact with them all the time, but you can't because of the effects of the CS (pepper) spray. We've been talking with the police about what to do when this kind of situation happens. One proposal is if anyone is sprayed by the police their clothes would be removed and they'd be put in those white suits they give people who've been arrested before they bring them in.''

WITNESS 6) ``There was no warning, or the staff would have got out of the way. Several of the staff suffered the effects of the spray, including a student nurse who was asthmatic and actually had to go to Accident and Emergency department following the incident. Normally the police are very good when we call them in. They'll come and ask staff what we want them to do. So for the police to come in and one of them to discharge this gas into the patient's face without negotiating with the staff or warning them it's going to happen, the staff were all extremely shocked and angry. I'm not criticising the police. They were following their guidelines, but their guidelines don't say what they should do in a hospital situation. They just give officers the right to use the gas (pepper spray) in situations where they feel threatened. It's the moral and ethical issues that really trouble me. It doesn't seem right that people come into hospital to be looked after and then they get zapped with this stuff. Perhaps we have to realize the consequences of getting police involved in violent situation.''

WITNESS 7) ``I thought it was there to help the police prevent crime, not to hit people with mental health problems. I subscribe to the view that people who need to come into our wards are mentally ill, not criminal, and that means they should not be sprayed with gas (pepper spray.) Before the police would have had to spend more time talking to the patients, even if maybe in the end they had to resort to physical force. This spray seems to them like a short cut; a quick and easy answer. It's yet another sign of the way criminality and mental illness gets conflated, just when we're working so hard to change public attitudes. It just confirms to the public that mental illness is not a pleasant thing to be around. I fully support the police in using the gas when faced with violent criminals, but these are people our nurses on the acute wards deal with on a daily basis, and
they don't have these gadgets available to them.''

WITNESS 8) ``It was an emergency out-of-hours admission. The man had been becoming more mentally disturbed at home and finally the police were called and CS (pepper) spray was used to control the situation. Then they discovered he had behavioural difficulties and his GP was called in and three hours later he was brought in to the admission ward. The consultant and nursing staff were told he had been violent and had very disturbed behaviour and that the police had been called in, but they didn't tell them or the social worker that they had to use CS (pepper) spray to bring him in. We need to know so we can take precautions We might have told them to admit him to the police cells first and the consultant would do the assessment there. We have to consider the safety of the other patients and
staff.''

Police use of CS Spray should be banned from MHS premises, mental health nurses say.

One in seven NHS Trusts providing acute mental health services reported incidents where either a patient had been admitted to the unit after being sprayed by the police, or the police had used the spray on the ward after staff had called for help. Trusts also reported adverse effects on staff health, including one where a nurse with asthma needed treatment for breathing problems in the hospitals' accident and emergency department.

Ben Thomas, chief nurse adviser at the Maudsley, said the use of CS spray on mentally ill people and on NHS premises should de banned. "Our survey suggests the police are using CS in non-criminal situations with people who are ill. It's detrimental to their care because it inhibits us from assessing them." The Maudsley has agreed with the local police that they will not bring people sprayed with CS to the hospital until the contamination has worn off. But this can take several hours. "We're not happy with that, but we have to take into account the health of satff as well as patients, Ben Thomas said..

A spokesperson for the Associations of Chief Police Officers said they had no evidence that CS spray had been used inappropriately, although the Police Complaints Authority had recorded 254 complaints from the public in the past year. He defended its use on people with a mental illness. "It's very difficult to tell if someone who is trying to kill you is mentally disordered until it's too late. But even if it is known beforehand, a police officer will still be justified if they believe themselves to be in danger of imminent atttack."

The Maudsley hopes that other trusts will join in a national
campaign for guidelines on the use of the spray on people with mental illness. "Our fear is that more and more police officers are accepting its use as a first line of defence. We have got to stop the tide," Ben Thomas said.

Pensioner dies in hospital after CS spray fracas
The Times
http://www.the-times.co.uk
letters@the-times.co.uk
September 28 1998
BRITAIN
September 26 1998
BY RUSSELL JENKINS

A PENSIONER has died in hospital ten days lesson in after being sprayed in the face with CS honesty spray by two police officers as he was evicted from a house.

         The spray was used when Frank Roberts, 76, struggled with bailiffs trying to evict him from a house at Tregarth, near Bangor, in North Wales. The Police Complaints Authority is to investigate the case. A coroner later said that Mr Roberts had died from natural causes apparently unrelated to
his eviction.
         On September 14, Mr Roberts was arrested for aggressive behaviour, including threatening bailiffs with a wooden stave as they tried to board his house up.
         During the fracas, Mr Roberts was sprayed with CS spray. He was taken to hospital in Bangor, where he was later operated upon for a ruptured aneurysm. A post-mortem examination carried out by a Home Office pathologist, Dr Donald Wayte, showed Mr Roberts was also suffering from silicosis. Dr Wayte concluded that Mr Roberts died of natural causes unrelated to the CS spray.
         Derry Pritchard Jones, the Coroner, said he hoped to conduct an inquest soon. He has released the body, indicating that it is unlikely to be needed in a police investigation.
         North Wales Police have referred the incident to the complaints authority. Superintendent Anne Booth, of Cheshire Constabulary, will lead the investigation.
         Mr Roberts's death follows the spraying earlier this year of Kenneth Whitaker, 67, as he sat in a car that was parked on double yellow lines in Kempston, Bedfordshire. In June, PC Andrew Taylor, who said that he had sprayed Mr Whitaker because he had tried to bite him, was acquitted
of assault.
        The Department of Health has already ordered two committees of independent scientists to investigate whether the sprays cause long-term health problems.

From Don Weitz
This reporter inaccurately identified me as "a poverty activist" - I introduced myself as a member of OCAP and PACT (People Against Coercive Treatment). Also not mentioned in the article is the fact that all 26 men who died were also in police custody at the time. To express your opposition to pepper spray use by TTC, immediately call: Solicitor-General/Minister of Corrections Bob Runciman at tel:(416)326-5075, or fax: (416)326-5085 - thanks, don

PEPPER SPRAY APPROVED FOR TTC: POLICE BOARD ALLOWS TRANSIT GUARDS TO
CARRY BLINDING WEAPON, by John Duncanson, The Toronto Star, Sept. 25,1998

     The Toronto police services board has given the green light for transit constables to use pepper spray, despite pleas from poverty groups to reject the plan.
     The Toronto Transit commission has only to get approval from provincial Solicitor-General Bob Runciman's office before it can arm its 57 security officers with the canned foam.
     The TTC approved the use of pepper spray in August, but needed the permission of the Toronto force and the government.
     Transit officials want the spray because several incidents that have put security staff at risk.
     The seven-member police board gave its blessing yesterday, despite last-ditch efforts by anti-poverty advocates.
     They fear pepper spry will be used on the most vulnerable in society - the mentally ill and homeless.
     P.J. Lilley, a member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, told board members she was hit by the spray while protesting at last year's Asian-Pacific summit in Vancouver.
[Torture]
     "I was in excruciating pain,": Lilley said, adding that the dangers are increased for people with heart or respiratory problemns.
     Pepper sprays, usually made from jalapeno or cayenne peppers, temporarily blind and choke recipients.
     Don Weitz, another poverty activist, told the police board he had a U.S. report that stated 26 people died in California between 1993 and 1995 after being hit in pepper spraying incidents.
     He said those who died were all men on some sort of medication or drugs.
     Weitz repeated the findings of an Amnesty International report, which found the use of pepper spray "tantamount" to torture."
     Even some board members expressed their discomfort of what might happen if the spray is released sinto the busy subway system.
     "As a TTC rider I think it's frightensing, that type of risk," said Sandy Adelson, tbe newest member of the police board.
     Adelson asked Chief David Boothby for specialized training of TTC personnel. However, Boothby said he doesn't envision wild scenes of TTC officers spraying into crowded subway cars as the cars travel down tunnels.
     "I just don't think that's going to happen," Boothby said.
     Norm Gardner, chair of the police board, echoed Boothby's sentiments, saying fears about pepper spray are "being exaggerated."
     The police will be monitoring the spray's use by TTC contables. If abused, the force has the power to immediately take it away from TTC security stasff, board members were told at the meeting yesterday.
     Mike Walker, the chief of security for the TTC, also said he doesn't foresee innocent riders being hit with spray as guards make arrests.
     He said the foam spray, which has a range of nearly 2 metres, fires in a narrow band and is "very directional." If bystanders are hit in an incident, he said, the TTC will take full responsibility.
     "We, the TTC, are reliable if someone gets sprayed. We will pay for any damages or any cleanup," Walker told the board members.
     The TTC's plainclothes special constables, who already carry handcuffs and expandable metal batons, made 610 arrests on the transit system last year and laid charges including attempted murder, robbery and sexual assault.
-------------------------

Survey boosts calls for ban on cs spray
Police use of CS Spray should be banned from MHS premises, mental health nurses say.

>From the sixth page of the August issue of Mental Health Care Vol. 1 number 12 page 394.
Subscriptions to
Mental Health Care,
39-41 North Road
London N7 9DP

Fraser Bell BA RMN
Senior research nurse
Maudsley Hospital
Denmark Hill Road
London SE5 8AZ
Phone + 44 171 703 6333
Fax + 44 171 252 2570

Ben Thomas MSc BSc RMN RGN DipN RNT
Director of clinical services
Maudsley Hospital London also Chair of Editorial Advicory Board of Mental Health Care

        A survey carried out jointly by the Maudsley Hospital in London and Mental Health Care and published in this issue (p 402-404) shows that police use of CS spray (Don Weitz believes CS, capsicum spray, is also called Pepper Spray in Canada and the USA.) (The Toronto Transit Commission in the Toronto Star refer to it as oleoresin capsicum foam, better known as pepper spray.) to subdue people who are subsequently admitted to psychiatric hospital is a significant problem.
        One in seven NHS Trusts providing acute mental health services reported incidents where either a patient had been admitted to the unit after being sprayed by the police, or the police had used the spray on the ward after staff had called for help. Trusts also reported adverse effects
on staff health, including one where a nurse with asthma needed treatment for breathing problems in the hospitals' accident and emergency department.
        Ben Thomas, chief nurse adviser at the Maudsley, said the use of CS spray on mentally ill people and on NHS premises should de banned. "Our survey suggests the police are using CS in non-criminal situations with people who are ill. It's detrimental to their care because it inhibits
us from assessing them."   The Maudsley has agreed with the local police that they will not bring people sprayed with CS to the hospital until the contamination has worn off. But this can take several hours. "We're not happy with that, but we have to take into account the health of staff as
well as patients, Ben Thomas said..
        A spokesperson for the Associations of Chief Police Officers said they had no evidence that CS spray had been used inappropriately, although the Police Complaints Authority had recorded 254 complaints from the public in the past year.   He defended its use on people with a mental illness. "It's very difficult to tell if someone who is trying to kill you is mentally disordered until it's too late. But even if it is known beforehand, a police officer will still be justified if they believe themselves to be in danger of imminent attack."
        The Maudsley hopes that other trusts will join in a national campaign for guidelines on the use of the spray on people with mental illness. "Our fear is that more and more police officers are accepting its use as a first line of defence. We have got to stop the tide," Ben Thomas said.

1) POLICE COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY GIVES WARNING ON PEPPER SPRAY
2) LAUREN THOMPSON: WAS ACCIDENTLY SPRAYED
The Times, September 7 1998
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk
letters@thetimes.co.uk BRITAIN

Forces urged to address public fears as figures show 10,000 incidents in 2 1/2 years writes Richard Ford Moorhouse: he called for careful monitoring CS spray usage

THE Police Complaints Authority has given warning of a backlash against the use of CS spray, after judges' criticisms over its misuse and growing public concern about its effects.

Peter Moorhouse, chairman of the authority, said that police forces should monitor the use of the spray closely and ensure that it was not used simply to make an easy arrest. His warning came as figures compiled by The Times show that the spray has been used more than 10,000 times since it was first deployed on the streets as part of police equipment.

Police scientists are already carrying out research to find a replacement for the solvent used in police CS sprays. It is the solvent that can cause skin blistering, reddening and pain in the eyes.

Mr Moorhouse said that police forces should address the public's concern over the small number of cases in which it appeared that the spray had not been used properly. "It is an extremely valuable piece of equipment for the use of officers, but things like tear gas have not been traditional in the
British policing system and, therefore, there is understandably an emotional response at its use," he said.

"They [the police] have to be very careful in using it only where necessary and in accordance with guidelines, otherwise they will alienate the public. I do not mean the criminal public, I mean the general public."

Mr Moorhouse said that, in spite of complaints, he did not think the public was losing confidence in the use of CS spray. But he said that a series of stories in the media that showed an inappropriate use of the spray had threatened to undermine confidence. "If these stories continue to build up, they will present an image of the use of CS spray that may not be the accurate image, but it will build up a perception of its misuse."

More than 250 complaints concerning the use of the spray were made in the year 1997-98. Between April 1996 to the end of March this year, there were two cases in which police officers were prosecuted for misuse of the spray. In both cases they were found not guilty.

The figures on the use of the spray show wide variations in the average number of times it was used per month, with the West Midlands force topping the list at 62 a month followed by Essex at 52, and Greater Manchester 41. But police say that the spray is now acting as a deterrent, with people involved in incidents asking if officers have the spray and then calming down.

The Police Complaints Authority's concern allows the latest criticism by a judge over the way in which officers used the spray in criticised a police officer for unlawfully assaulting a teenager involved in an incident outside an off-licence in Dunstable.

He said PC John Heath had single-handedly managed to convert a drunken incident into a riot by not inquiring what was going on, using physical force and the "totally inappropriate use of CS gas".

Judge Rodwell said CS spray could be used by the police only in self-defence in the face of an actual attack and was a weapon, not a containment device, as believed by PC Heath. "We would also like to make the point that, on the evidence we have heard, police officers were lamentably vague as to the training that they had received in the use of CS gas.

"It is perfectly clear that the training must be more frequent and, second, it is equally clear that police officers must be trained quite unequivocally that they may use it in self-defence and for no other purpose. If they are not, then police are frequently going to find themselves in the situation where they are the perpetrators of unlawful assaults and possibly liable to prosecution".

The solvent in the spray is methyl iso-butyl ketone (MIBK), which causes discomfort to the skin because it does not evaporate instantly. The Police Scientific Department is carrying out research to find out whether a new solvent can be found that would prevent the reddening and blistering.

John Giffard, chairman of the self-defence, arrest and restraint sub-committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "There has been some criticism of the solution MIBK because of the temporary injury that it can cause. We want to see if we can develop something that improves safety."

Mr Giffard defended the use of CS spray since its introduction two and a half years ago. He said officers were reassured by having it as a piece of equipment and that there was some evidence that simply carrying it helped to defuse difficult situations.

He said that in his own force, Staffordshire, which started using the spray in July 1997, there had been only three complaints resulting from its use on 105 occasions. He said its use was leading to a reduction in assaults on police and, in Staffordshire, such incidents fell from 50 between April-May 1997 to 29 during the corresponding two months of this year.

CS is not a gas but a white crystalline solid dissolved in a solvent that evaporates when sprayed, leaving a fine dispersal of CS particles. When inhaled these irritate the sensory receptors in the skin, eyes and the linings of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, making the eyes stream and causing other unpleasant sensations.

LAUREN THOMPSON: WAS ACCIDENTLY SPRAYED
Girl of 4 was squirted in tussle with suspects

A GIRL of four was sprayed in the face as police tried to arrest two suspects outside her uncle's home in Bordeseley Green, Birmingham.

Lauren Thompson was playing when she was hit by the spray, which the officers used to subdue two men wanted in connection with motoring offences. The spray was deflected off one of the men and on to her face.

She was later treated by a police surgeon, who judged that the spray had had a minimal effect on the child.

Lauren's mother, Michelle, said that her daugher had been screaming in pain: "Her eyes were terrible, swollen and red. She could not stop rubbing them and she was coughing."

Kenneth Whitaker was sprayed in the face as he sat in his car after he had dropped his disabled wife at a hairdresser's salon. Mr Whitaker, 67, had stopped on double yellow lines to enable his wife, Phyllis, 76, to get to the salon at Kempston in Bedfordshire.

A police constable used the spray on him after he became abusive, refused to give personal details and tried to bite the officer when he reached into the car to take the keys. Mr Whitaker was temporarily blinded in one eye and needed hospital treatment after twice being squirted in the face.

PC Andrew Taylor, 31, said Mr Whitaker had refused several times to give his details or to get out of the car, and that he used the spray when Mr Whitaker bared his teeth and sat with his arms rigid.

PC Taylor was acquitted of assault in June after becoming the first police officer to be charged with unlawfully using the spray.

SURVIVOR DIES AFTER CS GAS ATTACK
The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk
letters@independent.co.uk
August 11, 1998
[UK NEWS]
Man died after police sprayed him with CS gas By Roger Dobson

Police used CS spray on a mentally ill man shortly before he was found dead in the attic of his home.
A Police Complaints Authority inquiry has confirmed the spray was used on Mark Bell, 26, while he was alone in the loft of the family home, where his body was found hanging a short time later.

        "He was in a loft, he doesn't appear to have been going anywhere, or to have been a threat or danger, so why was there a need to use CS spray, which is intended as a last resort?" said Jenny Wilmot, policy officer for MIND, the mental health charity.
        A second PCA inquiry has being carried out on the case of another mentally ill man seriously injured when jumping through a window after he too had been sprayed with CS. The investigations come amid growing concern about the use of CS spray on mentally ill people.
        The first legal challenge to the use of CS on the mentally ill is already under way: a 28-year old Cambridge man claims he was assaulted with CS in his home and that its use denied him his constitutional rights as a patient.
        Yesterday the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) urged the Government to provide new guidelines on use of the spray with the mentally ill.
        A PCA report on Mr Bell has been completed and is expected to confirm Humberside police used CS at his home in Scunthorpe two months ago. Earlier in the day he had been treated a hospital because of concerns about his health. It is understood he discharged himself against advice.
        When police arrived at his home he retreated to the loft, where spray was used. Mr Bell, a father of three, was found asphyxiated in the loft.
         The cause of death is thought to have been hanging; an inquest has yet to be held. In the second case, the PCA has been investigating how a 28-year-old Hebden Bridge man was critically injured in a fall from a fourth-storey window soon after being sprayed with CS. Attempts were being
made to take him to hospital and there was a social worker in attendance. The man is believed to have thrown himself through a window.
         A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said yesterday: "We conducted a full inquiry and we have submitted a final report to the PCA and we are now awaiting a response. We were asked to attend by the psychiatric service to help transfer the man to hospital. CS spray was used during the
incident."
        In Cambridge, a 28-year-old man is suing police for alleged assault with a CS spray and for violating his rights as a patient. It is the first case of its kind.
        He is suing for assault and exemplary damages for police violation of his constitutional rights as a patient being detained under the Mental Health Act. It is claimed he was sprayed in his home in the presence of his family and a social worker, who also suffered the burning after-effects of the spray, as he was about to be taken to hospital.
        An added problem with the use of CS sprays on the mentally ill is the risk of dangerous interactions with the cocktails of drugs that many mental ill people are taking.
        Although CS is regularly used on the mentally ill, no research has been done on the reaction of CS chemicals with the powerful anti-psychotic medication and its effect on behaviour. MIND wants an immediate halt to the use of the spray on mentally ill people and is especially concerned about its use when patients are being taken to hospital.
         A PCA spokesman said it had received the final report on the man who died in Scunthorpe and was examining it prior to giving it to the coroner.
         "The Hebden Bridge investigation has also been completed and we are examining that too. In both cases CS spray was involved."

Police now use CS spray more than truncheons
By Julian Kossoff
The Independent on Sunday, August 9, 1998
http://www.independent.co.uk
sunday-letters@independent.co.uk
[UK NEWS]

        CS spray has replaced the truncheon as the first line of defence for Britain's police, less than three years after it was introduced as a weapon for use only in extreme circumstances when officers are under direct physical threat.
        More than 100,000 beat officers have been issued with canisters of CS and, according to figures obtained by the Independent on Sunday, its use has become commonplace - despite serious questions about health risks.
        Civil liberties groups and health experts have pointed to dozens of cases in which CS spray has been used in situations where the threat to officers' safety has been negligible or non-existent. Of particular concern is the way in which it has been used to restrain the mentally ill.
        Last week the Independent on Sunday revealed for the first time that police across Britain are regularly using CS spray as a "chemical straitjacket" to subdue mental patients. Now a 28-year-old mentally ill man is suing police for alleged assault with CS spray and for violating his rights as a patient. In the first case of its kind in the UK, lawyers acting for the man are suing for assault and for exemplary damages for police violation of his constitutional rights as a patient being detained
under the MentalHealth Act.
         The use of the CS spray is now so prevalent that when Thames Valley Police began trials last week, it became the 40th force to do so. Only Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Sussex constabularies have resisted the pressure to issue CS spray to front-line officers.
        Evidence that CS spray is quickly replacing the baton as the weapon of choice among officers emerged in a report by West Midlands police, published last week, which revealed that between July and September last year, the spray was used 203 times. During the same period, the baton was used at 82 incidents.
         The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has received 254 complaints from the public about CS spray. John Cartwright, the PCA deputy chairman, said: "I am concerned that it is sometimes being used as a convenience and inappropriately. Some officers are tempted to use it too soon."
         The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has championed the use of CS spray as a potential police life-saver, claiming it is a vital weapon in redressing the balance in the fight against violent criminals.
        Both Mind, the mental health charity, and the civil rights group Liberty want CS spray to be banned. A spokeswoman for Liberty, Liz Parratt, said: "It is part of the drift to policing by coercion and a move away from policing by consent. It raises serious civil liberties issues."
         Ms Parratt said police often ignored Acpo's guidelines and used the spray indiscriminately. She cited one occasion when CS was allegedly sprayed into a crowded coach and the doors slammed shut, and another where CS spray was said to have been used during an incident in a children's home. Other examples include the spraying of an elderly Alzheimer's patient and a pregnant woman.
         The threat to the health of those exposed to CS spray remains an area of deep concern, said Ms Parratt. "More research needs to be done," she said.
Forward from
Gustav Mahler
gustav.mahler@good.co.uk
Secretary of MIND-in-Salford
Reg. Charity No. 1000023
c/o Just Advocacy
Fourth Floor, Charles House,
Albert Street,
Eccles,
Manchester M 30 0PD
tel: fax: + 44 161 789 8002
text pager 01426 130 597
e_mail Debbie Bowling <salford_chc@compuserve.com>

The Independent, Friday, 2 October 1998
http://www.independent.co.uk
letters@independent.co.uk
(Please include a postal address) Letters should include a daytime phone number. They may be edited for length and clarity.
[UK NEWS]

Police not charged over custody death
By Ian Burrell, Home Affairs Correspondent

         None of the police officers involved in an incident in which an asylum-seeker died after being handcuffed, held down and sprayed with CS gas will face criminal charges, the Crown Prosecution Service announced yesterday.
         An inquest jury found last year that Ibrahima Sey, 29, was unlawfully killed at Ilford police station, north-east London, two years ago.
         But the CPS said there was still conflicting evidence over the exact cause of Mr Sey's death, which meant there was "no realistic prospect" of convicting any police officers.
         Last night Mr Sey's widow, Amie, said: "I am deeply disappointed by the decision of the CPS. All I want is justice to be done and peace for my family."
         Metropolitan Police officers arrested Gambian-born Mr Sey, who had mental health problems, in March 1996, after he made threats to kill his wife.
         He was taken to the police station where a struggle broke out. Officers restrained him by handcuffing his hands behind his back, forcing him to lie face down on the floor and squirting the spray in his face.
         Last October, a jury heard evidence that Mr Sey had died of restraint asphyxia and excited delirium, prompting the CPS to reopen the case and the coroner to call for police forces to review their use of CS spray.
         But the CPS said yesterday that there were still "conflicting and inconclusive" views among experts over whether excited delirium could cause death on its own, without an element of restraint.
         It said in a statement that Hertfordshire Police, working with a senior CPS lawyer, had undertaken "further exhaustive" inquiries since the inquest in both Europe and the United States.
          "In the light of all the evidence now available, it is not possible to be certain of the cause of death. Therefore there is insufficient evidence to justify proceedings against any police officer," the statement said.
         The Government last week announced a safety review of CS spray amid mounting concern over its use by police.
         Mr Sey's family is meeting lawyers to consider what options they have for any further legal action.