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The Use of Pepper Spray in Police Brutality

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The Use of Pepper Spray in Police Brutality

Police brutality has become a growing trend in the United States. The tactics used to apprehend suspected criminals have become cruel and demeaning, not to mention life threatening. There have been numerous cases where police officers have intentionally brutalized people during attempted arrests. Pepper spray seems to be the new weapon of choice among police officers nationwide; it contains a dangerous chemical component known as OC (oleoresin capsicum). Contact with this chemical may, "choke people already impaired by medical conditions such as asthma, enlarged hearts, hypertension or obesity, or people affected by drugs or from being tied up and left lying on their stomachs" (Koury and Reed 19). There have been cases where people have actually died from being sprayed with pepper spray; therefore, pepper spray is a lethal weapon that police officers should use only during life threatening situations.

The safety of pepper spray has never been proven scientifically. Furthermore, "since 1992, there have been over seventy in-custody deaths related to OC/ pepper spray, thirty-seven of which were in California" (Earth First 7). In spite of all those deaths pepper spray is still being used haphazardly by police officers. For example, "San Francisco police are still sticking by the chemical [pepper spray], even though it has been linked to at least a pair of highly publicized in-custody deaths" (Koury and Reed 11). A deadly incident involving pepper spray occurred in Novato, California, when Brian Prosser who reportedly had asthma, "died October 20th, 1997 after ... police doused him with pepper spray to subdue him" (Barak 5). His death was said to have been caused by "cardio...

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...wo Lawsuits." Novato Advance Archives 20 January 1999. Novato Advance. 22 pars. Online. Internet 25 April 1999. Available HTTP: www.novatoadvance.com/archi...doc=/1999/January/20-272-news9.txt

Earth First. "How You Can Help On Pepper Spray." Headwaters Jail and Legal Support Fall 1997. Envirolink Network. 18 pars. Online. Internet. 12 April 1999 Available HTTP: www.enviroweb.org/headwaters-ef/actions/pepperspray/support.html

Koury, Renee, and Dan Reed. "Berkeley May Ban or Limit Police Use of Pepper Spray" San Jose Mercury News 28 October 1997. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Information Services. 25 pars. Online. Internet 19 April 1999. Available HTTP: www.inspire-indiana.net

Wilson, Lynne. "Pepper Spray Madness." Covert Action Quarterly Spring 1996. Covert Action Publications, Inc. 28 pars. Online. Internet. 12 April 1999. Available HTTP: caq.com/caq56pepper.html
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