NEW YORK -- The Police Department will look into a complaint that an officer wrongly used pepper spray at a demonstration against Wall Street last week, Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday.
Internal affairs will investigate the claim made by a 25-year-old woman and others, Kelly said. Video from Saturday's Union Square incident shows an officer blasting a cluster of women with pepper spray. Two of the women crumple on the sidewalk in pain. One screams.
Kelly says the video leaves out tumultuous conduct by protesters who illegally tried to block streets. There have been about 100 arrested since the protests began more than a week ago, mostly on disorderly conduct charges.
A handful were arrested on more serious charges of assaulting a police officer and obstructing governmental administration.
The city's Civilian Complaint Review Board received a complaint on the pepper spray and is also investigating, but the board does not have the ability to enforce any type of disciplinary action against officers.
An online group that says it is part of the protest in lower Manhattan posted the officer's personal details online, including the names of his family and the address where his children attend school, with the threat "Before you commit atrocities against innocent people, think twice."
Kelly said the move was "despicable."
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