"Rainey’s direct gaze at the camera as her face drips with pepper spray and milk is a haunting, cinematic image of brutality, emphasized even more by the chiaroscuro of dark gloved hands holding her head up to lead her to safety. Dashiell Bennett of the
Atlantic has speculated that this image may become the defining one of Occupy unrest.
Rainey, a community activist since the ’60s, decided to walk by the protest on her way to a transportation meeting in the Northgate neighborhood of Seattle. As she told the
Stranger, Seattle’s alt-weekly paper, “Cops shoved their bicycles into the crowd . . . If it had not been for my Hero (Iraq Vet Caleb) I would have been down on the ground and trampled.”
Occupy’s 84-year-old pepper spray victim: Is this the most iconic image of the movement? - Arts Post - The Washington Post
"Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has issued an apology to people who were pepper sprayed at an Occupy Seattle demonstration on Tuesday evening.
McGinn personally apologized to an 84-year-old woman who was sprayed in the face. He called Dorli Rainey afer images of her being sprayed went viral.
"I feel terrible,” said McGinn. "I did apologize to Dorli because nobody likes to see this happen to someone who speaks for the protest line."
Pictures of Seattle's pepper spraying police - and Rainey - hit YouTube.
The mayor demands a complete review of police actions.
"We've asked police to review it, take a look at the videos,” he said. “We need more senior people.”
Rainey, a former school teacher and political activist, is no stranger to police. She was arrested during the original Nickelsville protests.
Seattle Police Chief John Diaz will do an internal review of the pepper spraying and make sure an appropriate commander is on the scene during the next protest."
Mayor apologizes to demonstrators who were pepper sprayed | KING5.com Seattle
