Cop’s JPX pepper spray gun severely injured woman and left her permanently blind
While non-lethal weapons like Tasers, pepper spray guns and bean bags have been issued to cops because of allegations that the police resort to deadly force far too often, these devices, when used improperly, have caused serious injuries and even deaths.
I don’t like to prejudge an accused cop when I don’t have all the facts, but based on the grand jury indictments in this case, it sure looks like the cop was on the wrong side of the law by his improper use of a pepper spray gun.
CALIFORNIA COP ON LEAVE PENDING PEPPER SPRAY OUTCOME
Beaumont police Officer Enoch Clark told investigators that he was retreating three feet away from an argumentative woman who may have been driving drunk
By John Asbury
The Press Enterprise
May 18, 2012
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Beaumont police officer said he feared for his life when he shot a woman in the face with a high-powered pepper spray gun in February, according to Riverside County grand jury transcripts released this week.
Beaumont police Officer Enoch Clark told investigators that he was retreating three feet away from an argumentative woman who may have been driving drunk, despite a dashcam video that shows him shooting pepper spray in her eyes from less than a foot away, the transcripts say.
The pepper spray gun, called a JPX, fires gun powder-propelled pepper spray at speeds of 400 mph, prosecutors said.
Clark, who had been trained not to use the gun at any less than five feet away, fired the device about 10 inches away from the eyes of Monique Christina Hernandez, 32, of Beaumont, according to prosecutors.
The double-barreled shot of pepper spray sliced her right eye in half and fractured her orbital bone. Her left eye's optic nerve was also severely damaged, leaving her permanently blind.
Clark and his attorney were not part of the grand jury proceedings. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and has a tentative trial date set next month.
"This case will come down to perspective and intent," Clark's attorney, Kasey Castillo, said in an email. "The grand jury transcripts contain the unchallenged testimony of only a handful of those involved in this case and for the purpose of garnering a filing decision."
"I am confident that once the trial jury hears all of the facts, Officer Clark's good name and reputation will be restored and he will be found innocent of any wrongdoing," Castillo said.
The criminal grand jury returned an indictment on four felonies last month after three days of testimony. Clark is charged with assault by a police officer, assault with a less-lethal weapon, use of force causing serious bodily injury and assault with a weapon likely to cause great bodily injury.
"There's one person responsible for that. It's not the department of Beaumont. It's not the makers of JPX and it's not Monique either," Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Mike Carney told the grand jury. "People are going to commit misdemeanors and need to be arrested. They don't need to wind up like this."
Clark, a seven-year police officer, is on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the case.
Beaumont police began training officers to use the JPX guns in May 2010. The department removed all of the weapons immediately following the incident with Clark and they are no longer in use, Beaumont police spokeswoman Darvi Mulvihill said.
Hernandez said she cooperated fully and never tried to attack Clark.
"Well instantly it was painful," Hernandez said. "I believe I screamed or cried. I instantly saw a bright white light and I couldn't see. I instantly peed my pants. I felt like I couldn't function or move my body. I just kind of felt stunned, you know, like in shock," according to the transcripts.
A group of Beaumont residents are planning a "solidarity march" for Hernandez on June 2 at Beaumont City Hall.
Much of the evidence may rely on a police car's dashboard video shown to the grand jury, which captured the incident and the attempted arrest. Prosecutors have declined to make the video public, shielding it as evidence in the pending case.
In an interview one week after the incident with Riverside County sheriff's detectives, Clark told authorities that he distanced himself, about three feet, from Hernandez when he fired the pepper spray gun.
He said he was afraid Hernandez was going to "gouge his eyes out" with the handcuffs he was using to arrest her and was afraid that she and her family were going to kill him and his partner.
Hernandez's family stood on their front lawn yelling at police during the arrest, but they obeyed commands and never made any threats, according to testimony.
Clark was initially called to a Beaumont home where residents reported Hernandez and her sister were fighting with her sister's ex-boyfriend. When police arrived, Hernandez had left and the family reported Hernandez may have been driving drunk, Carney said.
Another police officer waited at Hernandez's house until she came home about 9 p.m. He detained Hernandez and her sister while waiting for Clark to arrive, according to testimony.
Clark gave Hernandez a roadside sobriety test outside her home but couldn't get a breath analysis tester to function properly. Instead, he opted to arrest her based on probable cause on suspicion of DUI, Beaumont police officers testified.
Beaumont police have recommended DUI charges, but nothing has been filed. Prosecutors are still reviewing the case.
As Clark handcuffed Hernandez's left arm behind her back, she threw her right arm into the air and turned around trying to ask what her blood alcohol concentration level was. Clark told her repeatedly to "stop resisting," eventually leaning her over the hood of his police car, according to testimony.
While pinned against the patrol car, with both arms held behind her back, police said Hernandez began wiggling and then Clark sprayed her with the gun.
"Now the reason why every time a police officer has to use one of those weapons, he's not charged with anything, is 99.9 percent of the time … they have a legal justification," Carney said. "We're here in this case because what he did on that night to Monique Hernandez was not justified. It was a criminal offense."
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