L.A. Liberty

This Is the Pepper Spray Police Used on UC Davis Protesters

We’re awaiting confirmation from UC-Davis police, but after examining photos and videos of the incident, this is what we believe campus police used against the Occupy Wall Street protesters at UC Davis this weekend. It’s nasty.

This here is the MK-9 stream canister, one of the strongest available forms of pepper spray. How peppery your spray is can be measured by its Major Capaicinoid content, and you can determine the amount based on the coloring of the can. In this case, cops appear to have used a 1.3 percent solution. The only time a spray is more potent? When it’s meant to stop a freaking bear.

Assuming it’s 1.3 percent—or even if it was the slightly less-crazy 0.7 percent, as some pictures indicate—that’s some heavy duty stuff. It’s much stronger than the 0.2 percent that’s authorized for tactical deployment, making this a very large hammer for this particular nail. And even if it were an appropriate dose, it was sprayed at near point-blank range. The recommended minimum distance? Six feet, and it remains effective at 18-20 feet. Translation: The usage on Friday would probably be a little excessive even when used in the field against someone a lot more violent.

At that crazy-strong dosage, the burning, boiling eye sensation and difficulty breathing would obviously be amplified. Any form of pepper spray can be serious trouble—even lethal—for someone with asthma or a heart condition, and we’re talking the stuff the Marines train with here.

Notes:

1. lilatanzerin reblogged this from baruchobramowitz
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3. capitalismconcarne reblogged this from laliberty and added:

   Awesome.

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16. murphysbride reblogged this from baconbeernboobs and added:

    Oh you could tell by watching the video that it was potent pepper spray. It was freaking ORANGE.

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38. lovingmyselfishard reblogged this from optimistic-red-velvet-walrus and added:

    Being sprayed with this, as someone with asthma, could have hospitalized or even killed me.

39. hilker reblogged this from laliberty and added:

    terrible. and then some.

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45. jimicowan said: If you’ve ever been sprayed you’d agree the OC % does not matter. It’s a miserable experience regardless.
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