PPS-Safety

A woman who was attacked as she got out of a cab early Monday morning said her pepper spray saved her from further harm.

Chicago police said they were looking for a man in connection with the attempted sexual assault of a woman in the Lakeview area early Monday morning. The attacker was described as a male white Hispanic, between 25 and 30 years old with short hair combed back and a medium complexion.

NBC5’s Anna Davlantes reported that the victim, identified as “Elizabeth,” spoke out about the incident, she said in the hopes it would help others. The victim said she used pepper spray to fend off the attacker.

“I’m like, ‘Oh my God!,’” she said. “I start spraying my Mace everywhere and he just takes off. So, luckily, thank God, I had that in my hand.”

According to an alert from Belmont Area detectives, the woman was walking to her home in the 500 block of West Briar Place about 2 a.m. when a man threw her to the ground and tried to sexually assault her.

Elizabeth showed the scrapes and cuts she received after being thrown to the ground by the attacker, but said she knew it could have been much worse.

The victim said she left her job at a bar at 2 a.m., got in a cab, and when it pulled away, the man attacked her.

“He came out of nowhere,” Elizabeth said. “All of the sudden, I’m attacked from behind and pushed down.”

Police said it has been a long time since they have heard of a victim fending off an attack using pepper spray.

“She was very courageous, and I give her a lot of credit for doing that,” said Chicago police Sgt. Debra DeYoung.

Elizabeth urged everyone to buy a can of pepper spray and have it at the ready.

“Go and buy Mace,” she said. “When you have it, and you get out and you know you’re going to be outside alone, physically have it in your hand ready. Because if I hadn’t had it ready, it would have been in my bag –what’s the use of having it?”

Davlantes reported that police said they hoped someone would have information on the case. There have been attacks in the area with a similar description, but currently, there wasn’t enough information to link them.

Story and information provided by Chicago Sun-Times Inc.

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Mace is now a registered brand name for a company that sells pepper spray. When Mace (legally known as Mace Security International) was first developed, it consisted of CS and CN gases that the military used. They have since change the types of sprays that they carry and include a regular pepper spray and a product with pepper spray and some CS and CN mixed in. This is primarily due to the fact that CS and CN are irritants and pepper spray is an inflammatory.

What that means to you is, as an irritant, CS and CN can take longer to enter the pores and start working.  CS and CN can also have their effects “washed”, by removing the irritant from your skin, you loose the effect.  Also, people have different levels of pain management.  So what might irritate one person dramatically, may not effect another as severely.  This can lead to different effects from your spray, and possibly not disabling an attacker.

OC Pepper spray is an inflammatory agent which enters the pores and causes an inflammation of the tissue. It can’t be “washed” once is enters the pores, as an irritant can, which allows it to continue to work.  When an individual has an inflammation of mucus tissue, they get the “feeling” of suffocation along with the burning of the pepper.  There is no pain management involved.

Some brands (Sabre and Mace ) have many different products in their sales line.  They carry products that only contain pepper spray and also some that use a bit of CS and CN in them to get a more volatile mix. Some also ad dye to identify an attacker later.

The delivery method will dictate the speed in which an spray works. The finer the particles, the faster it enters the pores. This is a double edged sword. A stream has a longer effective reach but takes longer to work, a fogger is finer and works faster, but will not travel as far and can be effected by the softest breeze (in a house this is best to just spray into the hallway and stop any movement down the hall).  Some companies even produce a “foam” spray that is difficult to wipe away and results in the pepper being ground into the pores of the skin.  These types of sprays are very effective in a windy environment or possibly in a store or office area where you would not want to risk spraying a bystander.

 Many animal sprays (Bear and Dog/K9) have slight differences in the mixture, but are basically the same ingredients as pepper sprays, they just have the requirement of being certified by the EPA as safe for the environment.

Remember that when using anything for self defense, other than items that are designed for self defense, you may have to defend yourself in court at to why you chose that particular item. If it is an item that you KNOW might kill or maim, you may be held negligent by a jury of your peers.  Pepper Sprays have consistently been approved for non-lethal self defense.

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