AN OCCUPY protester claims she suffered a miscarriage after police allegedly used pepper spray on her and kicked her in the stomach.
Jennifer Fox, 19, who says she was two months pregnant, told weekly newspaper The Stranger that she attacked during a police crackdown on the Occupy Seattle protests last week.
“I was standing in the middle of the crowd when the police started moving in,” she said.
“I was screaming, ‘I am pregnant, I am pregnant. Let me through. I am trying to get out.'”
A photo posted on news website Seattle PI shows Ms Fox being carried by protesters. Her eyes are streaming and she looks to be in pain. Video footage on YouTube captured by a protester shows Ms Fox in distress.
The Stranger reported that Ms Fox was taken a hospital, and that doctors ran tests on her foetus. Ms Fox said that the doctors found no sign of trouble.
However, she went back to the hospital several days later with cramping and nausea, She said the doctors told her they couldn’t detect a heartbeat from the foetus and that she had suffered a miscarriage.
She told The Stranger: “They said the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it (the foetus), too.”
Ms Fox has not filed a complaint with the Seattle Police Department nor provided any medical records to back up her allegations.
The Huffington Post said that Seattle Police were launching a formal investigation into the matter.
“We are aware of a claim that a pregnant woman who attended the November 15 Occupy Seattle march has been treated for a miscarriage,” a police spokesman told the website.
“Consistent with standard procedure, the Office of Professional Accountability has initiated an internal investigation to look into the matter further.”
Ms Fox’s claims follows chilling images of police pepper spraying Occupy protesters at the University of California.
Categories: Government, Police Brutality, U.S. News, Women, Workers Struggle
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