Chapter 24

Pepper Spray

Well, another weekend down and another week started. Monday morning came, and we mustered in the courtyard wearing our black BDU pants and yellow PT shirts. Sgt. Martinez, Lt. Hudson, Trooper Benavidez, and Corporal Benavidez gathered around us. They were all carrying handkerchiefs and gloves.

Of course, my first thought was, What in the hell do they have planned for us today?

Sgt. Martinez spoke,” Today we will spend the day going through the effects and proper use of OC spray, better known as pepper spray. The pepper spray that you will be carrying as a Trooper is the most potent on the market. This pepper spray is issued strictly to law enforcement. You will be required to be sprayed in order to be authorized to carry this spray. You will also need to have a working knowledge of the spray and its components.”.

Lt. Hudson followed up with, “Today you will be getting sprayed with pepper spray and then required to run an obstacle course to show that you can fight through the effects of the spray.”

We spent the first part of the morning learning about the spray itself. OC spray is an orange-colored spray. This spray consists of different variations of oils that are extracted from peppers. The oils are mixed in such a way that they create a very powerful agent. This agent is put into a liquid form as well as a foam form. The agent is then stored in high pressure canisters. The effects of the spray are quite instantaneous. First you begin to cough and struggle to breath, then your eyes begin to water, and then you have a hard time seeing. Your mucus membranes open, causing your nose to run uncontrollably and phlegm runs down your throat. Your face turns red and develops a severe burning sensation. Eventually, you start coughing uncontrollably and feel as if your lungs are collapsing. The symptoms, of course, vary greatly from person to person, but some if not most of the symptoms are the same.

The agent is quite difficult to clean off. You cannot just wipe it off with soap and water. The effect has to pretty much just dissipate on its own. Using water on the agent can cause the agent to spread, thus affecting different areas of the body. Although water is used to lessen the effects of the agent by quelling the burning sensation associated with the pepper, it is best to just let the agent’s effects subside naturally.

We learned that there are several ways to carry and dispense the agent. Police officers most often carry the agent in a pouch on the officer’s gun belt. In order to dispense the spray, the metal canister is shaken and a button, located on the top of the canister, is depressed, releasing a steady stream of spray into the suspect’s face. The spray is dispensed using a circular motion in to the subject’s face. The desired outcome of this particular weapon is to render the suspect incapable of resisting either with violence or without. Unfortunately, this type of spray does not always work with suspects. If we can fight through it, then it stands to reason that they can too.

Other forms of use for the agent are pepper balls, large foam canisters, and fog machines. These types of weapons are used for riot control and facility protection, such as correctional facilities.

One thing to remember when dealing with these agents is that free flowing air and ventilation in buildings can spread the spray throughout each room in a structure. A one-second burst of spray is enough to affect the air in a three-bedroom home. This could contaminate everyone in the home.

After three hours of learning about the spray and its components, we all gathered in the courtyard where we began the process of being sprayed with the agent and running through an obstacle course. We wore goggles so that we weren’t sprayed in the eyes, but the rest of the face was fair game.

The instructor called us by name, and we went to the starting point of the course. We were given a pair of goggles and then sprayed. We took turns running through the course, which consisted of five stations.

Each station was manned by an instructor, carrying a blue-and-black striking bag. The lead instructor would also accompany each recruit to the individual stations while holding one of their belt loops. I can only assume that this was done so that we did not slip and fall or run so fast that we got sick. Most of us were not able to see very well and quite a few of us were unable to move very fast due to our inability to breath.

I unfortunately drew the short straw and was chosen to go through the rigors of the course first. After being called out by the instructors, I walked outside and plucked a nice clear and clean pair of goggles from a cardboard box that was placed at my feet. I stood at attention directly in front of Lt. Hudson, and watched as he placed a brown cardboard box at his feet and opened the top. He removed a small black canister from the box and began to shake it vigorously. Lt. Welch Walked behind me and put one finger through my belt loop, and at that moment, I closed my eyes and tensed up. Lt. Hudson sprayed my face in a circular motion and I was held in that spot for a brief second to allow the effects of the spray to set in.

The effects of the spray set in almost immediately; however, they would enhance and grow more potent as I progressed through the course. First my eyes began to burn and turn red, pretty much the same as a piece of charcoal that had been set ablaze and left to burn. Then the tears began to flow down my already flushed cheeks. My face began to swell and turn a bright pinkish color. My breathing became very difficult; it felt almost as if an anvil had been placed on my chest, constricting the intake of oxygen. This of course was not the case, but it really did not matter, as I had lost the ability to give a damn about why the chemical spray was having these effects on my body.

At this point, Lt. Welch spun me around and began to guide me to the first station. I punched and kicked and fought as we were previously instructed to do, but I found that the harder I fought, the more detrimental the symptoms became. It became harder to breath, my nose began to run profusely, and I began to cough up enormous amounts of phlegm. I continued to struggle through the tasks as I tried to find a rhythm or at least a way to complete the course. I found that there was no easy fix to this. Every inch of my face and neck burned as beads of sweat began to form on my forehead and run down my face, mixing with the chemicals and spreading them like a wild fire.

By the time I took off running from my fourth to my fifth obstacle, the effects of the OC spray were in full effect and had caused my head to feel as if it was a volcano that had erupted in a fiery blaze. Full snot flows were streaming from my nose and tears flowed freely from my eyes.

Still, I fought and struggled to move forward until, finally, I found myself standing at my last and toughest obstacle. Of course, I could only see a blur of the person I was standing face-to-face with. That tends to happen when you are looking through squinting eyes, full of tears. The man appeared to be dressed in some sort of red apparatus, from head to toe. I would learn later that I was facing Sgt. Martinez, but right now that didn’t matter one bit. My only thoughts at this moment were on finishing my task so I could get this damn spray off me. My objective was clear: handcuff and detain the subject. It did not matter how I accomplished this task, as long as I accomplished it. I began giving the blurred subject clear verbal directions, in hopes that he would just comply.

“Sir, I need you to turn around until I tell you to stop,” I said, while coughing and breathing heavily.

The subject just stood there stoic and unflinching. I repeated my request. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt the air leave my lungs and realized that the figure, clad in red gear, had charged at me and had pile-driven me into the ground.

We struggled and grappled for what seemed like an eternity. I had let this person knock me off my feet, but my only thought had been to get back up. I was not going to lose this fight. I was able to fend off several strikes and finally shift the subject to my right, allowing me to slide from underneath him. I took his right arm and did an arm bar, driving his face down into the dirt. I dropped to one knee, placing the other knee in between the shoulder blades. I twisted both arms behind his back. Finally, I had the subject under control. The subject was cuffed and brought to his feet. I was gasping for air and trying to gain some sense of composure.

The instructor talked with me for several minutes, debriefing me on my performance.

“You showed great initiative and spirit in negotiating this course. I was very pleased with the way that you composed yourself and pushed through the pain and discomfort. You achieved your goal, but you did make some mistakes. Still, you did manage to complete every tasks and overcome the mental and physical ailments associated with being put in a dangerous situation while virtually incapacitated,” Lt. Hudson stated during the debrief.

I pretty much was not listening to him. I was only thinking of the cool water and fans waiting for me on the other side of the building.

Finally, after around five minutes, I was released to go over to the makeshift relief station.

The relief station consisted of around ten chairs placed in the center of several industrial size fans. There were several water hoses and buckets of water set up to wash the chemical spray off our faces. Rolls and rolls of paper towels were set up by each bucket of water and chair.

This station is where I would spend the next couple of hours waiting for my class to finish the course. I would watch in amazement as each and every trainee went through the course, hoping that I didn’t look as ridiculous as they did, but knowing that I probably did. The only difference between me and some of them was that I didn’t throw up and many of them did.

Overall, this was a very long day, and after passing this course, I just wanted a long hot shower. Of course it had taken around forty-five minutes to get the symptoms of the spray to subside, but as soon as that happened, I was off to the shower. A word of advice If I could give any is do not, I repeat do not, shower after being sprayed. The spray ran down my face and chest, all the way down to my nether regions. You could hear me scream for days. You see even after the effects subsided. The water will cause the spray to reactivate and spread. This happened to me and you could hear my screams down the hall. Even after getting out of the shower, certain parts of my body burned for hours because after I put clothes on the area continued to be irritated.

As this day came to a close, all our class wanted to do was go to bed. We were too tired and hurt to goof off. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling for what seemed like hours just reflecting on the day’s events and wondering what I would do if I got into a situation where I had to fight someone or spray a suspect.

Even though I had been in the military, this was a different type of service. In the military, you prepare to engage foreign terrorist and evil regimes, but in this line of work, you are going to encounter your countrymen and women. This is not something I or any of my classmates take lightly. This is just a different feeling all the way around.

I turned to ask Julio a question but noticed that he had already drifted off to sleep. I turned toward the wall and buried my head in my pillow. I finally drifted off to sleep around midnight.