A United States Park Police spokesperson clarified the agency’s denial of using tear gas on protesters earlier this week, saying it was a “mistake.”
In an interview with Vox, Sgt. Eduardo Delgado stressed that the statement was accurate in noting pepper balls were used by law enforcement in the incident in Lafayette Square on Monday, and that the statement intended to clarify other commonly types of gas weren’t used.
“The point is we admitted to using what we used,” he said in the interview. “I think the term ’tear gas’ doesn’t even matter anymore. It was a mistake on our part for using ’tear gas’ because we just assumed people would think CS or CN.”
“I’m not going to say that pepper balls don’t irritate you,” he added. “I’m not saying it’s not a tear gas, but I’m just saying we use a pepper ball that shoots a powder.”
The protesters were cleared from the area about a half-hour before the city-wide curfew, ahead on an impromptu photo-op for President Trump at St. John’s Episcopal Church, which was damaged by fires earlier this week.
Mr. Trump received a wave of harsh backlash after the incident, with Democratic lawmakers demanding answers from the Justice Department, the Pentagon, the Interior Department and Homeland Security for their roles in clearing protesters from Lafayette Park.
On Tuesday, acting Chief Gregory T. Monahan claimed officers dispersed the crowds after they began throwing “projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles and caustic liquids.”
“To curtail the violence that was underway, the USPP, following established policy, issued three warnings over a loudspeaker to alert demonstrators on H Street to evacuate the area,” he wrote in a statement. “As many of the protestors became more combative, continued to throw projectiles, and attempted to grab officers’ weapons, officers then employed the use of smoke canisters and pepper balls.”
According to the Center for Disease Control, which notes “riot control agents” and “tear gas” are similar terms, there are several types of compounds that fall under this category, all of which cause “irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin.”
Chloroacetophenone (CN) and chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS) are two of the more common compounds, but pepper spray is also considered part of this larger category.
Mr. Delgado stressed that if CS gas was used, officials would have had gas masks on. However, one reporter claimed their team on the ground found CS casings at Lafayette Square.
And with that denial, all agencies present near Lafayette Sq deny launching tear gas our @wusa9 crew found casings for minutes after federal officers swept through. https://t.co/wAGqDqY9Rh pic.twitter.com/hYoBlhASQR
— Nathan Baca (@NathanBacaTV) June 4, 2020
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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