Yahoo! News
21 July 2016
Jason Sickles
CLEVELAND — Cleveland police are warning the public
not to accept stickers from strangers after two officers working protests at
the Republican National Convention suffered mysterious skin irritations.
“If you’ve received a sticker from someone you that
you don’t know, that you stuck on your skin, we advise that you remove it and
wash the area with soap and water,” Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia, a police spokeswoman
said Thursday night.
Two officers — a Georgia state trooper and a Cleveland
policeman — received medical treatment after suffering skin burns and numbness
while controlling crowds at the city’s public square outside the RNC.
The Georgia state trooper, one of hundreds of officers
from around the country working in Cleveland during the convention, reported
his injury after receiving a yellow sticker from a protestor.
“We’re still investigating the context in which the
sticker came in contact with him,” Ciaccia said. “But there was no assault or
anything like that that occurred with it.”
The Cleveland officer reported similar symptoms a
short time later, but apparently didn’t recall being given a sticker. Both
officers were treated at nearby medical tents and did not require
hospitalization.
“For right now the officers are OK,” the sergeant said.
A man carrying some of the stickers was later
apprehended and questioned by the FBI. His stickers were sent to a lab for
testing. According to radio traffic, police were planning to charge the
unidentified suspect with assaulting a police officer, but Ciaccia said no
charges have yet been filed.
“Whether or not this is all connected, we’re not
sure,” she said.
According police scanner communications, California
and South Carolina troopers also reported that protesters were believed to be
trying to jab officers with syringes.
“We did not have any officers injured by needles or
syringes,” Ciaccia said at the evening news conference.
But police did, out of caution, immediately add
syringes to the list of prohibited items for the RNC, the sergeant said.
As of Thursday night, 23 people have been arrested
this week on various charges related to protests near the convention, police
said.
