Nationwide — Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, a congresswoman from Ohio, was reportedly pepper-sprayed while trying to mediate between police officers and protesters in Columbus.
“I was there because I wanted the young protesters to know that in solidarity, that I stand with them,” Beatty told
NBC 4.
Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin confirmed in a post on Twitter that he and the congresswoman were “sprayed with mace or pepper spray” but are now fine.
Beatty was apparently trying to come between a police officer and a protester before an altercation between both groups happened and she was sprayed.
Another cop comes up with his bike and pushes the congresswoman out of the way … and then it’s naturally getting heated … that one cop pulls, I don’t know why he does it, he pulls out his Mace and does what he does,” Dominic Manecke, a spokesman for Beatty, told CNN about the incident.