Officer uses pepper spray to break up brawl in Seattle courtroom



SEATTLE (AP) — A King County Jail spokesman says an officer used pepper spray to break up a Seattle courtroom fight involving multiple women.

The Seattle Times reports that Seattle defense lawyer Teri Rogers Kemp says a female client of hers was sitting alone in a courtroom gallery Friday morning, waiting to appear before a King County Superior Court judge for a pretrial hearing.

The lawyer says another woman walked up and punched her client, then two other women joined in and the women ended up on the floor.

Rogers Kemp says she jumped in to protect her client.

Jail spokesman Capt. Troy Bacon says that's when a jail officer assigned to the courtroom pepper-sprayed the group after the women didn't obey his order to stop fighting.

The lawyer says the woman who first hit her client was escorted from the courtroom. Rogers Kemp said she doesn't know why her client was attacked.