When is Pepper Spray the Only Option?

Among the many shocking images to emerge from the clashes between police and Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country, perhaps none is as striking as the photograph of an elderly woman after being hit with pepper spray in Seattle. Eighty-four-year old activist Dorli Rainey  has since become something of an icon to the Occupy movement. The incident preceded another controversial use of pepper spray by police, this time at the University of California Davis, where  student protesters, sitting with their arms locked together, were sprayed by campus cops. Dorli Rainey has not let the pepper spray incident slow her down. She discusses her ongoing activism and the experience that made her famous.  For a look at the Constitutional and legal implications of institutional use of pepper spray The Takeaway speaks to  John Sims, professor of law at The University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law.