Via
the blog over at LewRockwell.com comes the story of
Monique Christina Hernandez, a Beaumont, California woman who was
permanently blinded by Officer Enoch Clark during a DUI traffic
stop in February. Officer Clark attempted to handcuff Hernandez,
she allegedly resisted, and Clark:

allegedly fired the spray from 12 inches away using a JPX
device, which shoots spray at speeds of 400 miles per hour and is
supposed to be used at a minimum distance of five feet, Hernandez’s
lawyer Milton Grimes said in an interview.

“She did nothing to warrant him putting a gun — a pepper-spray
Taser gun — to her forehead and pulling the trigger, causing her
right eye to explode and causing severe nerve damage in her left
eye to the extent that she’s not been declared totally blind,”
Grimes said.

Hernandez say never being able to see her daughter again is the
worst part.

“I’ll probably imagine her to look like a 10-year old all her
life.”

Clark’s attorney Kasey Castillo released a statement to KTLA
saying her client quote: “is remorseful but innocent… and looking
forward to his day in court.”

Hernandez came to police attention because “someone” called to
report she was causing a “disturbance.” This is why police
pulled her over, also for supposedly driving erratically. However,
when she was released from the hospital, she was not charged with
anything, not even the DUI.

On April 26, Officer Clark was indicted for
four felony counts of “assault with a less-lethal weapon; use
of force causing serious bodily injury; assault with force likely
to cause great bodily injury and assault under the color of
authority.”

The JPX device is not technically a firearm (so says the ATF,
the National Firearm Act, and the Gun Control Act), nor are its
cartridges technically ammunition. However, as touted by the
manufacturer:

we are using a blank cartridge to create the necessary pressure
level to deliver the OC spray.  The advantages of this
patented delivery system are numerous:

1.  No Loss of Pressure.  Most canned sprays will lose
pressure over time that will effect the reliability in time of
need.
2.  Higher velocity to the target:  Most canned sprays
are limited by their internal pressure to how far they will spray
and at what velocity.  
3.  Superior accuracy and no risk of deflection through a
sidewind.

One again it has to be said that less-than-lethal weapons such
as Tasers and tear gas are in theory a good thing, if only because
they are not firearms. However, nothing about the JPX device sounds
like a good thing. Particularly its incorrect use by an officer in
what seems like a minor, barely-criminal manner. 

Maybe the weirdest thing about this case, especially if you’re
suffering outrage fatigue from other disturbing tales of police
brutality, is this:

Beaumont police asked the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department
to investigate Clark’s use of force, the city said in a statement
Thursday. Sheriff’s investigators then forwarded the case to the
district attorney, who convened a criminal grand jury last
week. 

Not even the comments on PoliceOne.com are fully in Clark’s
favor. And
when the blue line’s website of choice says the officer wasn’t
well-trained, perhaps real punishment against him is possible. But
of course Martinez will still be blind.

Reason on
police and on
Tasers

(Hat tip: Anthony
Gregory)