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Oklahoma: Police Pepper-Spray 84-Year-Old Woman in Her Home

HeadlineAug 29, 2016

Police in Oklahoma have released body camera video showing an officer pepper-spraying an 84-year-old African-American woman in her own home. The video shows Muskogee officers kicking in the door of Geneva Smith’s residence on August 7 as they pursued her son for allegedly running a stop sign and fleeing from police. The son, Arthur Paul Blackmon, is seen holding his hands up as an officer shoots him in the torso with a Taser while he’s standing inside the house. The video also shows police ordering his elderly mother to turn around, who appears confused about why police are in her home at 2:45 a.m. After 40 seconds, police pepper-sprayed her in the face. Smith told Tulsa TV channel FOX23 she is planning a lawsuit.

Geneva Smith: “I just came out and asked them what was going on, and they just pepper-sprayed me. They handcuffed me and dragged me out to the car and put me in there. They carried me to jail.”

Geneva Smith says she was first taken to jail, but was later hospitalized after she became ill from the pepper spray.

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