The COLOR of the pepper spray speaks to the concentration of the active ingredient. It could be artifically color, TOO, but the active ingredient is most likely carrying a pigment from its natural state, so the higher concentration will result in a more intense color. The 'lot' number should contain all the chemicals the students were exposed to.
This could easily be considered a chemical burn, especially, where a person was vomiting blood. The 'tissue' within the mouth, pharynx and potentially the LUNGS could be irritated enough by the active ingredient to cause bleeding. My concern is that some of the tissue exposed to these high CONTACT concentration may cause scar tissue which is 'non-functioning' tissue. While that may be benign result to some, the 'idea' that lung tissue could have been exposed, irritated to bleeding and scarred is not an option. Lung tissue does not regenerate itself. The student bleeding should have a broncoscopy to determine the damaged tissue and if any lung tissue were damaged that is a permanent injury. Any damaged lung tissue does not regeneate and while that might seem, too bad, to some; as people age their 'need' for abundant capacity of organ tissue in their youth provides venues of longevity.
The fact this occurred at all proves the police are grossly underprepared for their jobs. The students locked their arms to prevent removal from the protest and the police didn't know how to break them up. That is what resulted in using pepper spray. It was a very strange method to choose. The police were hoping the sensation from the spray would move them, but, that isn't what pepper spray does to the psyche, necessarily. Pain, in humans, paralyzes the 'idea' of moving. The first natural human reaction to pain is to stop and relieve the pain. So, the police had the students in a position where they were going to crouch further in their posture, they weren't standing up so they could move away from the pain to examine their body, they simply dug in more to shield from it. The students didn't have any choice at that point in option. The more they could guard from it the better. The police never assessed the circumstances, they simply tried brut force to remove them.
Also, I heard a protester state he was told by the police officer with the pepper spray that if they didn't move the police would shoot. The protester did not know what they were going to be shot with, told the others, the others didn't know what they were going to be shot with and they simply held on tight for what could be their final minutes in life. That is an unbelievable resolve considering 'shoot' could have meant something far more than pepper spray. The police had an easy target, too. Students sitting still without recourse.
I heard the observation that the police officer initially administering the pepper spray used up all the liquid inside the can. That is correct. He not only emptied the entire container, he then motioned to the other officer to dispense his can as well. The first officer then tried to break the locked arms to no avail. He should have realized before the pepper spray they needed a negotiator with the protesters. That 'idea,' of a negotiator never once entered the scene anywhere in the country, yet alone UC-Davis campus. It is safe to say that authorities have no 'ideas' to begin interaction with the protesters OR more the case, they already know why they are protesting and they have no answers, except brut force.
This is a seriously disturbing exchange between police and protesters of which 'strains' of this can be discerned across the spectrum of the interaction of government with the people.
