On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri sent a letter to the city counselor directing him to ensure the police department saves all electronic communications from the protest for the discovery phase of the trial in the suit the ACLU plans to file regarding constitutional violations by the police at the Jason Stockley verdict protests.
The ACLU’s list of alleged constitutional violations contains several charges related to the use of chemical agents: “Attacking people indiscriminately with gratuitous use of pepper spray, pepper balls, rubber bullets, and tear gas when no apparent illegal activity had occurred; excessively using of force, including violent arrests that caused injuries; deploying chemicals, such as tear gas and pepper spray, without warning; deploying tear gas on routes where people were leaving.”
They all match the protest experiences of Kennard Williams, an activist and organizer who serves as a street medic.
He said during protests in St. Louis by the Police Academy on Friday, September 15, the day the verdict was handed down, protestors were catching it from both sides.
“What the police did Friday, they started macing people on the side of the Police Academy building next to the City Hall parking lot. A bunch of us tried to pull people out who got hit at very close range,” Williams said.
“When people started to move back, officers on the other side began spraying people and forcing them up against the gate – that walled gate on the side of City Hall parking lot.”
He said they continued macing people until they got on Tucker Blvd.
“People got caught into a vice and they were spraying them on both sides.”
These airborne noxious agents can affect anyone in the area, including non-demonstrators, news crews, old people and children. You do not have to be next to it to be its target.
“This stuff travels on the wind, and it can immediately affect anybody in the area,” Williams said. “It’s sprayed with such a copious amount they use when they are spraying it and the cans spray so much out … like fire extinguishers.”
He said the unchecked use of these chemical weapons on protestors says a lot about the city and its leaders.
“There are people who bring their kids out; there are people who bring younger folks out here who are angry about this, who are upset about this, and everybody has a right to exercise their first amendment right to free speech,” Williams said. “And with them using these weapons like this, in the open, indiscriminately on anybody, that really says something about the St. Louis Police Department and our mayor for allowing them to continue using it.”
Williams himself was hit during Friday’s protests.
“I got sprayed several times pulling out people who had been sprayed close-range by police,” Williams said. “It burns. It burns a lot. It burns any skin it contacts; it burns your eyes, your sinuses; it causes your mucous membranes in your nose to really start to work up. It’s pretty terrible.”
The brand Chemical Mace is described as a nonlethal spray containing purified tear gas and chemical solvents that cause eye and skin irritations to temporarily incapacitate and subdue people.
Williams said he was hit at least three times in the afternoon, and his arms were burning well into the evening. He said it takes multiple washing of the affected area to remove the chemicals.
To provide immediate attention, demonstrators turn into street medics like Williams, using spray bottles of diluted milk of magnesium to wash the caustic irritants out of the eyes of its victims. Again, an over-the-counter laxative, milk of magnesia, is used to provide a different type of relief.
“We have been using milk of magnesia and water, a 50-50 mix,” Williams said. “Milk of magnesia and water mixed into a squirt bottle container—that way, when it’s held over somebody, it can be squirted into their eyes. You have them look up and tilt their head a little bit and spray each eye so you can flush the eyes. We definitely tell them not to rub, because it can transfer the chemicals further.”
He said water alone often activates the material more and causes it to burn a lot more.
He said some demonstrators also carry bottles of apple vinegar to counteract chemical attacks.
“Apple cider vinegar goes on bandanas to soak them through,” he said, “so it kind of stops some of the irritants that are in the air from the tear gas.”
The other alleged violations listed by the ACLU are: “arresting people with questionable probable cause, illegally searching bags and other possessions, not wearing name tags and not identifying themselves, blocking access to public spaces without apparent cause of officer safety, ongoing investigation, or public safety hazard, forcefully blocking recordings of police conduct in public spaces at safe and reasonable distances, selectively enforcing access to public spaces, entering safe spaces against policy and with questionable probable cause, using intimidating displays of force, explicitly contrary to agreement prior to release of verdict.”
