Photo: Boston.com
An article by Michael E. Ross entitled The Epidemic of Police Brutality published at The Root yesterday. It comes alongside news from Tampa of police misconduct resulting in homicide. On December 23, Reason’s Hit and Run blog published the story of Nick Christie, who was tied to a chair and repeatedly pepper sprayed by Lee County, FL deputies (photo included in link). His death was likely caused by asphyxiation, though there could have been a number of factors at work as Nick Christie had a medical condition. According to a witness, who at the time was a corrections officer, “He had a spit mask on and was naked.” The witness testified that the restrained man had pleaded with officers to remove the spit mask because he could not breathe.
