Politics

SD Sheriff to Probe Use of Pepper Spray at Political Fundraiser

By Alison St John / Reporter

Published June 29, 2009 at 12:36 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The incident occurred as a fundraising party for Congressional candidate, Francine Busby, was winding down at a private residence in Cardiff. The party’s hostess refused to provide her date of birth to the sheriff’s deputy, who arrived around 9:30 p.m. to investigate a noise complaint. A scuffle allegedly ensued, during which the officer used pepper spray and arrested the woman.

Jan Caldwell is spokesperson for the Sheriff’s department. “With this case,” she says, “it was decided by the under sheriff and the sheriff, because it’s a high profile case, we can’t ascertain all the facts from media accounts, so the best vehicle to ascertain exactly what happened in Cardiff on Friday night is to initiate an internal investigation.”

Caldwell says the case has been assigned to a detective, and witnesses from the party will be questioned. She says there is no deadline by which time the investigation must be completed.

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Busby says there was no music at the event. She addressed the guests with a bullhorn, just after 8 p.m., something she says she’s done at hundreds of fundraisers in the past without any problem.

Politics

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.