No Charges for Police Misconduct During Occupy

[Greenday]

People don't lose their rights just because you don't agree with them.

If someone makes threatening advances towards me, am I not allowed to protect myself? Am I not allowed to use something to protect myself from a short distance instead of getting to the point of physical contact? These people were advancing, pushing the line in a threatening manner. His lack of skill using pepper spray worries me. But he was preventing the rest of the police from the surge. Just because the crowd wasn't all armed with AK-47s doesn't mean they weren't a threat.

[Andara Bledin]

If someone makes threatening advances towards me, am I not allowed to protect myself?

Straw man.

There were no "threatening advances." Plus being allowed to "defend yourself" as a citizen is different than as an officer of the law (all that training and responsibility goes both ways) and should be commensurate with the level of threat. Waving a cellphone at you because they're taking video does not give you the justification to hit them with pepper spray.

[Gravekeeper]

If someone makes threatening advances towards me, am I not allowed to protect myself? Am I not allowed to use something to protect myself from a short distance instead of getting to the point of physical contact? These people were advancing, pushing the line in a threatening manner. His lack of skill using pepper spray worries me. But he was preventing the rest of the police from the surge. Just because the crowd wasn't all armed with AK-47s doesn't mean they weren't a threat.

No threatening advances are made. This is 4 college girls with cameras. This officer was not protecting himself, he walked over to the scene, sprayed them and casually walked away. Your argument is made of straw.

Pepper spray is used to subdue someone resisting arrest. He is using it as a tool of punishment. All he did was attack an innocent group of people then walk away, leaving them incapacitated on the ground. If you want to disperse a crowd, you don't want to incapacitate people and risk trampling injuries.

He kept on with the same behavior through out the day. Coming over to pepper spray people that were already leaving the area and once again showing no regard for his fellow officers either.

He is indefensible and I can't comprehend how you're trying to defend him. Even his fellow officers agreed his actions were wrong. What basis do you have for saying he's right when even his own department says otherwise?

[Panacea]

Ok, so it was against the rules. IMO, it's still a valid use.

Fortunately, the rule of law trumps personal opinion.

However, your opinion is wrong. When defending ones self, one must use reasonable force. Using a weapon you are not trained or certified to use is not reasonable force . . . remember, police are held to a higher standard than civilians.

And on top of everything else, he really had no reason to defend himself at all; he was not being attacked or threatened.

"penned in"? Right, as in there was no hard wall blocking them and the "penned in" crowd was expanding outwards into the police's space. Uh huh.

And getting rowdy while advancing on the police is a valid reason to defend oneself with a non-lethal weapon.

Only if you are certified to use it. Police have to get special training to use pepperspray. Remember basic? When you got gas mask training, and had to breath noxious gas so you'd know what it felt like to get gassed? Well, that's what cops have to do when they train on pepperspray. They get sprayed in the face so they know what they are putting people through, and understand why they have to be careful if other officers are nearby so they don't get hit.

I once got pepper spray in the eyes when I worked as a correctional nurse. I was talking to a rowdy inmate through the window, when a CO decided to spray him (through the window; the inmate was in a cell). The spray fills the whole cell, and the blowback caught me in the face. It was not pleasant.

Hope that's sarcasm.

No, I think she was quite serious. And I agree with her.

If someone makes threatening advances towards me, am I not allowed to protect myself? Am I not allowed to use something to protect myself from a short distance instead of getting to the point of physical contact? These people were advancing, pushing the line in a threatening manner. His lack of skill using pepper spray worries me. But he was preventing the rest of the police from the surge. Just because the crowd wasn't all armed with AK-47s doesn't mean they weren't a threat.

There was no surge. And police officers are held to a higher standard: they cannot use methods of force they have not been trained or certified to use.

This guy needs to learn not only how to use pepper spray, but how to do crowd control if he couldn't handle a few kids with cameras.

[crashhelmet]

He kept on with the same behavior through out the day. Coming over to pepper spray people that were already leaving the area and once again showing no regard for his fellow officers either.

He is indefensible and I can't comprehend how you're trying to defend him. Even his fellow officers agreed his actions were wrong. What basis do you have for saying he's right when even his own department says otherwise?

While in no way defending his actions, the chick constantly yelling "Right here, pig?" probably didn't help matters.

[crashhelmet]

This guy needs to learn not only how to use pepper spray, but how to do crowd control if he couldn't handle a few kids with cameras.

Proper protocol would've been to walk up and warn the crowd before dispersing it. That's where he erred. If he had walked up, commanded them to back up or be sprayed, he would've gotten to keep his 10 vacation days.

[Panacea]

While in no way defending his actions, the chick constantly yelling "Right here, pig?" probably didn't help matters.

Doesn't matter. He's a cop. It's his JOB to be professional and ignore it.