Jesse Hagopian filed a $500,000 claim against the city and police department, alleging that the police officer had no cause to douse him with pepper spray shortly after Hagopian participated in the rally and march on January 19.
Hagopian was on the phone with his mother as he was leaving the event to head home and celebrate his 2-year-old son’s birthday. He was walking on the sidewalk by a barricade of police officers and their bicycles when one of the cops sprayed him directly in the face.
“I felt the piercing pain shoot through my eye, my ear drum and my nostril, all over my cheek and face,” Hagopian said during a news conference at City Hall. “I yelled out. My mom was in distress as she heard me yell.”
"The pain that shot through my face only lasted so long, but the painful memory is something that I don't know when will leave me or my family," he added.
The incident was captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. The video shows the officer ordering people to stand back before she sprays the irritant indiscriminately, striking Hagopian and an unidentified woman. The officer continues to spray the irritant at people in a sweeping motion.
Hagopian’s attorney, James Bible, who is also head of the local NAACP chapter, said his client was “pepper sprayed irrationally by a police officer — no provocation and no reason. We view this as a challenge to free speech."
Police first formed the barricade after one of the officers was knocked from his bike. A second video, also uploaded to YouTube, shows officers using pepper spray to disperse the crowd before Hagopian ever walked by police.
Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole said there were six uses of pepper spray during the confrontation, and all are being reviewed. She declined to comment on Hagopian’s case, saying it is a now a legal matter.
"We have worked to create and implement a comprehensive and transparent police accountability system that will be the most robust in the nation," Mayor Ed Murray said in a statement. "Under the accountability system that we've set up, the uses of force that occurred during the MLK protests are currently under review and being investigated."
— Jesse Hagopian (@JessedHagopian) January 29, 2015
Before the incident, Hagopian spoke at the rally about how black lives matter – a rallying cry that has swept the country since grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York, declined late last year to indict white police officers in the deaths of black men.
