Today’s COTD winner unwittingly explains, in simple, idiotic terms, everything that is wrong with the police’s decision to pepper spray protestors near Westlake Park last week.The comment was made in regards to the story about Occupy protestor Jennifer Fox, who claims that police beating/pepper spraying caused her to miscarry her child. The validity of Fox’s claims aside, commenter Ian Smith says that anyone who got pepper sprayed deserved it because they were blocking traffic. Smith (who also spent most of the day yesterday writing about how black people are the cause of all the world’s ills) writes:Don’t block the fucking street and you won’t get maced or beaten.Smith’s logic here perfectly encapsulates the common misconception among people who support SPD’s recent handling of the protests.It is not in fact the police’s job to “mace” and “beat” protestors who don’t follow a lawful order. It’s their job to arrest them. There’s a difference. It’s true, people shouldn’t be blocking the street. In fact, it’s against the law to do so. Washington state law says that a person can be charged with a misdemeanor crime both for failing to obey an officer and for violating pedestrian laws like blocking an intersection.Committing these acts may result in being arrested, booked into jail and eventually being fined. No where in Washington law, however, do these crimes call for being pepper sprayed, beaten or otherwise physically hurt by police officers. In short, pepper spraying protestors is the easy, lazy way out for cops who would rather not take the time to lawfully arrest someone, write up the paperwork and book them into jail. It’s also the easy, lazy way for people like Ian Smith to defend the indefensible.