Watch as Denver police recruits are pepper sprayed

Denver police recruit Mackenzie Tommell described being pepper sprayed as “searing pain.”

“Your eyes slam shut, it’s difficult to open them,” Tommell said in a video posted to the Denver Police Department’s YouTube channel. “They start to tear and water.”

Tommell, along with more than a dozen new recruits, used pepper spray (also known as OC, or oleoresin capsicum) to help them gain a better understanding of its effects and what it means to deploy that level on force.

What did Tommell experience?

“There’s a lot of mucus and spitting and crying and tears because your body is trying to push all of that substance out.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Watch as Denver police recruits are pepper sprayed."