Lungren Assails Treatment of Protesters
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SAN FRANCISCO — In an unusual rebuff to local law enforcement, state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren said swabbing and squirting pepper spray in the eyes of Humboldt County demonstrators was “not accepted police community practices.”
In a letter to a Democratic legislator made public Tuesday, Republican Lungren said the actions of the county’s officers as shown in videotapes were unprecedented and unsupported by state guidelines for the use of the spray.
“Both swabbing of OC [oleoresin capsicum, the chemical name for pepper spray] onto the eyes of an individual and the close spraying of OC are very unusual applications of OC and are not accepted police community practices,” he said.
Lungren said state guidelines for police call for the use of pepper spray from distances of three to 10 feet.
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