http://www.albionmonitor.com/9808a/pepperspray1a.htmlSAN FRANCISCO -- An officer dips a cotton swab into a cup of pepper spray, then smears it into the eyes of 16-year-old Maya Portugal as another officer holds her head back and spreads her eyelids. The officers do the same to three other young women whose wrists are locked together with Portugal's. A scene from a torture chamber in some banana republic? It happened in Eureka, California in the district office of Congressman Frank Riggs on October 16, 1997.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/10/BAG8O8MK8Q1.DTLSAN FRANCISCO
Retrial opens on using pepper spray on protesters' eyes
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle September 10, 2004 04:00 AM Copyright San Francisco Chronicle.
Friday, September 10, 2004
An attorney for anti-logging protesters whose eyes were swabbed with liquid pepper spray during sit-ins seven years ago opened a retrial of their damage suit Thursday by accusing Humboldt County officers of devising a strategy to punish the demonstrators, and intimidate others, by inflicting pain that amounted to torture.
The officers' attorney countered that the caustic chemical was a safe and necessary response to "organized lawlessness.''
An eight-member U.S. District Court jury in San Francisco heard opening statements in the second trial of a suit stemming from the unprecedented use of liquid pepper spray to break up demonstrations at Pacific Lumber Co. and a congressman's office in 1997. Another jury deadlocked 4-4 in the first trial in 1998.
The protesters chained themselves together at company headquarters in Scotia and at the Eureka office of a pro-logging congressman, Frank Riggs, in 1997. Two demonstrators also fastened themselves to logging equipment on Pacific Lumber property.
After warnings, sheriff's deputies and Eureka police pulled the protesters' heads back and applied Q-tips doused in pepper spray to the corners of their eyes. Those who refused to move were sprayed in the face at close range
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http://www.albionmonitor.com/9809a/pepperspray2.htmlSAN FRANCISCO -- A mistrial was declared on August 25 in the closely-watched federal civil rights suit charging that police use of pepper spray against nonviolent Headwaters Forest demonstrators was excessive force.
The two-week ended with the jury evenly split on whether Humboldt County deputies acted appropriately as they swabbed and sprayed pepper spray in the demonstrator's eyes. Judge Vaughn Walker declared a mistrial after finding it unlikely that further deliberations would produce a unanimous verdict. He set a November 16 date for a new trial.
The jury foreperson told reporters that even though the jurors deliberated less than five hours, they were firmly deadlocked. "There was one man on the other side that wouldn't change if a bomb had gone off in his lap," said Patricia Schimke with a chuckle.
She referred to retired dock worker Marty Roland, who said in a television interview he didn't think swabbing pepper spray across the eyes was excessive force. "That's a tool they would have to use to do these things with," Roland said. During deliberations he said that if demonstrators came on his property and sat down, he'd get out a gun, according to Schimke.
Schimke found the deputies' use of pepper spray very disturbing. "If you can't sit down and express your beliefs in a calm, nonviolent way without the police coming and putting chemical agents into your eyes, I think that's sort of going back to the days of the cattle prod and the fire hose," the retired medical technician said.
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Video: "Fire In The Eyes" part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h5-7kqXA7Y~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.nopepperspray.org/legal_documents_index.htmNo Pepper Spray on Nonviolent Protesters
www.nopepperspray.org
Vernell Lundberg, et al. vs. County of Humboldt, et al.
former short case title was
Headwaters Forest Defense, et al. vs. County of Humboldt, et al.
Legal Documents Index Page
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002256865_webhumboldt28.htmlPepper-sprayed Humboldt activists awarded $1 each by juryHumboldt County and Eureka law enforcement officers were found liable today of using excessive force when they swabbed pepper spray on the eyes of nonviolent logging protesters during a 1997 protest.
By Justin M. Norton
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Humboldt County and Eureka law enforcement officers were found liable today of using excessive force when they swabbed pepper spray on the eyes of nonviolent logging protesters during a 1997 protest.
The jury only awarded the eight plaintiffs $1 each in the case. The was the third trial after the first two ended in deadlocked juries in 1998 and 2004.
The plaintiffs laughed and hugged in the courthouse hallways after the verdicts were read and applauded when jurors left their chambers.
"They did the right thing," said plaintiff Terri "Compost" Slanetz, a 42-year-old naturalist from Oakland. "We've been trying all along to get a statement that this was illegal. It's a positive step toward people treating each other decently."..more..
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