Police pepper spray drunk women during arrest

(CNS): Police said that they used pepper spray to subdue two women on Saturday night who caused a drunken disturbance outside a West Bay bar. Officers were called to Kelly’s Bar on Birch Tree Hill Road around midnight, where they found a 22-year-old-woman from the district shouting expletives and fighting. Police said she was banging on the bar door and behaving in a disruptive manner. When they attempted to calm the intoxicated woman, she cursed at the officers. After she was told she was being arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct, she kicked an officer who tried to handcuff her. 

As the woman became more aggressive, one of the officers sprayed her with the pepper spray and a crowd began to form around the police. Then a second woman became aggressive toward the officers while they were subduing the initial suspect, so she was also sprayed and subsequently arrested by the officers.

The 22-year-old-woman was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, assaulting police and being drunk and disorderly. The second woman, aged 54 of West Bay, was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. Both women are currently on police bail, but the RCIPS did not say whether or not the women had needed treatment as a result of the use of the pepper spray.