The Martin Luther King Day celebration in Seattle brought thousands of people into the streets to march in remembrance and to continue in the efforts of the civil rights leader.
Jesse Hagopian, a teacher at Seattle’s Garfield High School, was there to participate and present awards to students leading the Black Lives Matter movement.
Upon leaving the stage, Hagopian walked through a crowd of protesters on his way to his 2-year-old son’s birthday party. He had just made a call to his mom when he was doused with pepper spray by a Seattle police officer.
The active ingredient in pepper spray is a white substance called capsaicin, which is extracted from plants of the Capsicum genus like chili peppers.
“I felt the piercing pain shoot through my eye,” Hagopian told KIRO 7.
When Hagopian finally arrived home, his mother was so concerned that she filed a complaint with the Office of Police Accountability.
Hagopian and his attorney James Bible, together with the NAACP, then filed a $500,000 claim against the city. “[Hagopian] was pepper-sprayed irrationally by a police officer — no provocation and no reason,” Bible told KIRO 7. “We view this as a challenge to free speech.”
Protesters planned on blocking traffic on State Route 99 near Seattle Center for four-and-a-half hours, the same amount of time Michael Brown’s body was left in the street. Police arrested 20 people.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.
For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TomoNewsUS
Subscribe to stay updated on all the top stories:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt-WqkTyKK1_70U4bb4k4lQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: http://us.tomonews.net
Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f
Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+TomoNewsUS/
Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus
