Police in Pittsburgh attack anti-recruitment protesters with tasers, dogs and pepper spray

Newsday
Aug. 22, 2005

Two women protesting the war in Iraq were taken to a hospital Saturday after police broke up an unauthorized march involving about five dozen people on a busy one-way street near an Army recruiting station.

David Meieran, who helped organize the protest, accused police of “inappropriate and excessive force.”

Sgt. Clint Winkler, a supervisor on duty, told The Associated Press that one woman who would not leave was subdued with a Taser. He also confirmed that a police dog bit another woman on the leg when she refused police orders to disperse.

Both women and a man involved in the march were arrested, Winkler said.

“They were told to disperse, peacefully disperse, and failed to do so, so we started down the sidewalk—officers in front, K-9’s behind us, and started pushing the crowd down the sidewalk,” Winkler said. He said the march broke up after the arrests.

The recruiting station was not open at the time.