Jennifer Fox, who was pepper sprayed during the march last Tuesday, alleges that police officers hit her twice in the stomach
A pregnant woman who was pepper sprayed during the Occupy Seattle protests in the US claims she had a miscarriage five days later as a result of injuries allegedly inflicted by the police.
Jennifer Fox, 19, claims that she was also struck in the stomach twice – once by a police officer's foot and once by an officer's bicycle – as police moved in to disperse marchers on 15 November.
A picture of Fox being carried away became one of the abiding images of the police crackdown on the Occupy Seattle protests, along with that of 84-year-old Dorli Rainey, who was pictured with pepper spray – and liquid used to treat it – dripping from her chin.
Fox told the Stranger blog: "I was standing in the middle of the crowd when the police started moving in. I was screaming, 'I am pregnant, I am pregnant. Let me through. I am trying to get out.' " It was at that point, she said, that one officer lifted his foot and hit her in the stomach and another pushed his bicycle in the crowd, again hitting her in the stomach. She did not state whether she thought their actions were deliberate.
"Right before I turned, both cops lifted their pepper spray and sprayed me," she continued. "My eyes puffed up and my eyes swelled shut."
Video of Fox in distress at the protests was posted online on Tuesday. She can be seen telling people who have come to her assistance "I can't see" and wailing.
Fox told the blog that she had been three months pregnant. She said an ultrasound at the Harborview medical centre that night did not indicate any problems but, on Sunday, she started getting sick, suffering cramps and feeling as if she was going to pass out. She went back to the medical centre where, she said, "They diagnosed that I was having a miscarriage. They said the damage was from the kick and that the pepper spray got to it [the foetus], too."
Fox says she is homeless and had been camping with Occupy Seattle since it began in Westlake Park. Fox told the One Angry Queer blog that she had intended to name the baby Miracle. "It hurts. It's upsetting. I was ready to have a kid, because my family was going to support me in taking care of the child," she said.
Dominic Holden, the author of the Stranger blogpost, wrote that Fox told him she did not have her medical records but would request a copy from Harborview. A spokesman for the Seattle police department told the Guardian he was unable to comment on the allegations as present: "Without any supporting documents, it's just an allegation," he said. "As far as I know this person [Fox] has not contacted us."