A teachers aide who was pepper-sprayed last month during the Occupy Wall Street protests is demanding that Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. prosecute the deputy inspector caught on video spraying her.
Kaylee Dedrick, 24, was visible in widely circulated demonstration videos standing by orange netting, then suddenly screaming in pain and falling to her knees.
She needed emergency treatment at the scene and then went to the emergency room.
She is now demanding misdemeanor assault charges against Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, said her lawyer, Ron Kuby.
Prosecutors are reportedly investigating the incident, which had been immediately described as justified by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
“The video shows D.I. Bologna discharging pepper spray in an arcing sweep at several women who are behaving peacefully and are surrounded by orange mesh netting,” Kuby wrote in his letter to Vance.
“Department Spokesperson Paul Browne stated publicly that the pepper-spraying was justified as part of ‘a continuum of force that obviated the use of batons.’ This suggests that my client should be grateful that she was not beaten to the ground with police clubs, but it does not explain why D.I. Bologna discharged his pepper spray,” Kuby wrote.