Good Morning

Pepper spray is a lazy way to go.

Legions of trained individuals should be able to disperse crowds without using last resort treatment as a first resort. “Pepper spray was deployed only against subjects who were either refusing a lawful order to disperse or engaging in assaultive behavior toward officers.”

If trained officers have to resort using such tactics in such a callous flagrant way that 84 year old women are sprayed in the face then said training needs to be reassessed, as to either when or how they are deploying said tactics, or both.  

Of course, Seattle Police spokesman Jeff Kappel said that pepper spray “is not age specific. No more dangerous to someone who is 10 or someone who is 80.” So as a Seattle officer of the law the only thing to know is that pepper spray is no more dangerous to kids then it is to geriatrics, and not whether is is appropriate to use it on them? And as you are part of a group of armed and fit adults who have had crowd control and physical defense/offense training, there is no reason to attempt another way to disperse them? Guess not.

photos by Joshua Trujillo