Pepper spray stings fans at football game

Late in the first half of last Thursday's football game, most of the 44,612 fans in attendance were watching two scoring drives that reversed Tech's only point deficit of the game from Maryland's three-point lead to a Jacket 11-point lead.

But for some fans in the northeast stands, the final minutes of the first half were about loss of breath-but not from outstanding plays on the field.

"I heard everybody coughing-it started at the back and worked its way down. I started coughing and tried to walk away," said junior Javier Silvera, who was sitting in a block-seating area in the east stands.

The cause of the mass coughing, as many in the stands suspected, was pepper spray, but not from anywhere in the stadium. Outside the stadium, police arresting 28-year-old Scott Twining, a resident of Chamblee, were forced to use pepper spray to subdue him.

At 9:30, a Georgia Tech police officer Matthew Suplee responded to a call to transport Twining to Fulton County Jail. Officers attempted to place Twining-who, according to the police report, smelled of alcohol-in the back of a squad car.

After officers placed Twining in the back of the car, he continued screaming "Let me go!" He kicked the window out of the car and broke it as officers attempted to restrain him. The report notes that Twining was spitting and attempting to bite the officers. Twining was warned by officers to stop resisting or he would be sprayed with pepper spray. The spray was used shortly before halftime to allow officers to extricate him from his position half outside of the broken window.

Suplee noted in the report that Twining continued to struggle, and officers deemed it necessary to secure him with leg chains and handcuffs, and strap him to a backboard. Twining was transported to the jail by ambulance.

According to Suplee, "After Mr. Twining spit on the two paramedics, a cloth had to be placed over Mr. Twining's face to keep him from spitting."

Twining was charged with interfering with government property, obstruction, and public drunkenness.