Activist Groups Demand City Retract Bid On Less-Lethal Weapons, Call It Money Spent 'To Use Against Its Own Citizens'
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Several Pittsburgh-based activist organizations are demanding Pittsburgh city official retract their bid for less lethal weapons for the police bureau.
"The tear gas was so bad that I personally had an asthma attack and passed out," Brandi Fisher, the director for the Alliance for Police Accountability, said. "[I] woke up in the dark and didn't know where I was."
Fisher says that is what happened at a protest over the summer. It's one of many reasons Fisher says city leaders should withdraw their bid.
"At a time where we're in the midst of a pandemic, people are unemployed, people are being evicted every day, do not have housing and good jobs, this city decided to spend a half a million dollars on weapons to use against its own citizens," said Fisher.
Bend The Arc Pittsburgh, the Alliance for Police Accountability, and other groups say the weapons are unsafe and unnecessary.
City officials sent out the bid on April 14.
The list includes sponge rounds, smoke grenades, tear gas and pepper balls.
"Studies show these weapons not only cause permanent disabilities, but they also cause traumas such as skull fractures, brain injuries, damage to vital organs, permanent blindness and death," Myra Taylor, who has been a nurse for nearly 20 years, said.
Taylor also says injuries like this put a strain on understaffed hospitals.
However, Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz says the weapons aren't just used for crowd control.
They're also used for SWAT calls, serving search warrants and for other groups such as emergency management and Animal Care and Control.
Officers say these orders are placed on a semi-regular basis.
"We would like data on the number of times these things are used outside of protests," said Fisher. "How often is the city using tear gas?"
Fisher says they'll continue to question officials and make their voices heard to prevent these purchases.
