Name: Bill would bar police in Michigan from using tear gas to control crowds
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Bill would bar police in Michigan from using tear gas to control crowds

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Lansing State JournalView CommentsLANSING&nbsp;— A bill introduced by a Holt representative would bar law enforcement officers from using tear gas to control crowds.State Rep. Kara Hope, D-Holt, a sponsor of says tear gas is especially dangerous during a respiratory pandemic.&nbsp;Tear gas irritates the eyes, lungs and throat, causing people to rub their faces and cough&nbsp;— actions known to enhance spread of COVID-19. And because the gas breaks down protective mucus in the lungs and nose, it could make&nbsp;people more vulnerable to respiratory infection.More:&nbsp;"During recent uprisings, tear gas was too often used in communities that have already been disproportionately hurt by COVID-19,” Hope said in a statement. “Deploying tear gas in areas where COVID-19 is prevalent can worsen the virus’s disparate impact on Black and brown Americans."Police used a chemical irritant on May 31 in downtown Lansing just outside Hope's district after a mostly peaceful protest against racism and police brutality turned unruly, resulting in property damage, fires and thrown bottles and rocks.More:&nbsp;Lansing Mayor Andy Schor and Police Chief Daryl&nbsp;Green defended use of the gas, saying it was necessary to disperse the crowd and prevent further violence."It's a non-physical action and preferable to anything that would have to be physical action,".Hope's bill would prohibit using any chemical irritant&nbsp;to control crowds and defines such an irritant as a&nbsp;"chemical compound that temporarily makes an individual unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin," including but not limited to "a compound deployed as a gas, commonly known as tear gas or riot control agent."More:&nbsp;That language is intentionally broad, Hope said.Both Schor and Green argued the substances deployed on May 31,&nbsp;referred to in an LPD press release as "chemical agents,"&nbsp;were not actually&nbsp;tear gas.Green told reporters police&nbsp;had used&nbsp;capsicum oleoresin, an irritant that comes from pepper plants. When national park police used capsicum oleoresin&nbsp;on protesters in Washington D.C., President Donald Trump similarly&nbsp;characterized those chemicals as a substance other than tear gas.More:&nbsp;The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a range of substances including&nbsp;chloroacetophenone (CN) and chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS), and capsicum oleoresin or pepper spray.Purchase orders show Lansing spent at least $6,633&nbsp;since 2015 on riot control substances, including smoke canisters and CS gas.The Lansing State Journal obtained the documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for orders purchasing&nbsp;riot control or crowd control agents that were used by LPD in 2020.Hope's bill, has not made it out of committee. The proposal does not include a penalty for violation of the tear gas ban, but Hope said a penalty could perhaps be added if the legislation advances.Using tear gas on protesters is worrisome from a First Amendment perspective, the representative said. She also noted&nbsp;the gas could hurt bystanders and might seep into nearby homes and businesses.“It's&nbsp;impossible to control tear gas," Hope said.&nbsp;“Once it’s deployed it’s kind of out of the hands of whoever deployed it.”Related: from the New York Times included Lansing, Detroit, Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids&nbsp;among a list of 100 U.S. cities where protesters had been tear gassed since May 26.Hundreds of protests cropped up across the country in response to incidents, including the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes.&nbsp;Contact reporter Sarah Lehr at slehr@lsj.com.&nbsp;Follow her on Twitter&nbsp;&nbsp;View Comments

Lansing State JournalView CommentsLANSING&nbsp;— A bill introduced by a Holt representative would bar law enforcement officers from using tear gas to control crowds.State Rep. Kara Hope, D-Holt, a sponsor of says tear gas is especially dangerous during a respiratory pandemic.&nbsp;Tear gas irritates the eyes, lungs and throat, causing people to rub their faces and cough&nbsp;— actions known to enhance spread of COVID-19. And because the gas breaks down protective mucus in the lungs and nose, it could make&nbsp;people more vulnerable to respiratory infection.More:&nbsp;"During recent...

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Bill would bar police in Michigan from using tear gas to control crowds

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