first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2017-10-18 21:45:00.529093+00:00,2023-12-15 20:59:20.340921+00:00,"Independent livestreamer, Heather De Mian, pepper sprayed by St. Louis police",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-livestreamer-heather-demian-pepper-sprayed-st-louis-police/,2023-12-15 20:59:20.163253+00:00,,,"(2021-05-28 00:00:00+00:00) Officer acquitted on felony assault charges for pepper-spraying protesters, (2019-07-17 14:59:00+00:00) St. Louis officer charged with assault for 2017 pepper-spraying of livestreamer Heather De Mian, protesters, (2023-11-16 16:58:00+00:00) State appeals court dismisses reporter’s First Amendment claims",Assault,,,,Heather De Mian (Independent),,2017-09-29,False,St. Louis,Missouri (MO),38.62727,-90.19789,"
Heather De Mian, an independent livestreamer and photographer, was pepper sprayed by St. Louis police while filming protests in St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2017, according to her tweets and livestream video of the incident.
In an interview with St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Nassim Benchaabane after the protest, De Mian said she was livestreaming the demonstration to Periscope when she was informed by protesters that the St. Louis police tased a protester. She moved closer, trying to film the arrest of the protester, when police allegedly sprayed her with a chemical agent from the side.
De Mian regularly documents protests by livestreaming them on Periscope and uploading them to her Youtube channel, "Heather DeMian," and her Twitter account, @MissJupiter1957.
In the Periscope video, De Mian can be seen asking the officers multiple times why she was sprayed and why they failed to give a dispersal order. In the video, one officer points at De Mian and says repeatedly, “time to go."
“I should have to be a threat before someone fucking maces me,” she says later on the livestream.
De Mian later tweeted that the pepper spray had a severe effect on her because she has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder.
"B/c of my #EDS, my physical reaction to pepperspray is different. It takes a few minutes to feel it where I have mucus membranes in my face," she tweeted. "Didn't really feel it much on my arms & medics washed where there was visible orange liquid, but not whole arm, so missed where fine spray. So while I didn't feel an initial reaction on my arms much, where it sat on the skin for longer, it damaged the skin. #EDS"
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
#STLProtests 2 https://t.co/Md7vRrOjyj
— Heather ♿📷📱🔭 (@MissJupiter1957) September 30, 2017
@MissJupiter1957 a livestreamer in a wheelchair, says she was pepper sprayed while filming after police teased/arrested a man #stlverdict pic.twitter.com/dhjtMdBO4G
— Nascream Bloodaabane (@NassimBnchabane) September 30, 2017
Heather De Mian, an independent livestreamer, was pepper-sprayed by St. Louis police while filming a protest.
",None,None,None,None,False,4:18-cv-01680,['DISMISSED'],Civil,None,False,None,None,None,False,False,None,None,law enforcement,unknown,False,None,[],None,None,None,None,None,None,False,[],,"Black Lives Matter, chemical irritant, court verdict, protest",,, 2017-10-21 00:03:24.409353+00:00,2022-03-10 22:24:40.516365+00:00,"St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer, Christian Gooden, pepper-sprayed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police",https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/st-louis-post-dispatch-photographer-christian-gooden-pepper-sprayed-st-louis-metropolitan-police/,2022-03-10 22:24:40.459060+00:00,,,,Other Incident,TNG-CWA calls on St. Louis police to stop arresting working journalists (http://www.unitedmediaguild.org/index.php/2017/10/05/tng-cwa-calls-on-st-louis-police-to-stop-arresting-working-journalists/),,,Christian Gooden (St. Louis Post-Dispatch),,2017-09-29,False,St. Louis,Missouri (MO),38.62727,-90.19789,"Christian Gooden, a photographer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, was pepper-sprayed by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department while covering protests in St. Louis on Sept. 29, 2017, according to a news report by the United Media Guild.
Gooden told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he was taking photographs in between two groups of protesters when he heard that a demonstrator had been tased. He, along with several protesters, turned back to document the St. Louis police walking a demonstrator to a van in handcuffs. “The police sprayed everyone in front of the police line,” Gooden said. He anticipated the spraying, so he backed up turned away to avoid the spray.
Gooden said he continued to take pictures once he thought the police were done spraying, but he was hit by a second stream of pepper spray. He turned his back to avoid posing a threat, but he estimated the spraying lasted five or six seconds.
“There didn’t seem to be a reason to spray the line,” he said. “They were agitated and loud, but no one was coming to put hands on police.”
He told the Freedom of the Press Foundation that he felt the spray on his neck and collar, and he kept turning his head to protect his face. “It felt like he was trying to get around to my ears and eyes,” Gooden said.
Gooden said that while he was not wearing his press badge, he was carrying two large cameras and a photo bag, and had been covering the protests as a photographer for multiple nights.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to requests to comment.