April 27--BEAUMONT, Calif. -- A Beaumont police officer accused of permanently blinding a woman with pepper spray pleaded not guilty on Thursday to four felony charges.
A Riverside County grand jury last week indicted officer Enoch Clark on charges of assault with great bodily injury and other felonies.
On February 21, Clark sprayed pepper spray in the face of Monique Christina Hernandez, 32, while he tried to arrest her on suspicion of driving under the influence, the city of Beaumont said in a statement.
Clark allegedly fired the spray from 12 inches away using a JPX device, which shoots spray at speeds of 400 miles per hour and is supposed to be used at a minimum distance of five feet, Hernandez's lawyer Milton Grimes said in an interview.
"She did nothing to warrant him putting a gun -- a pepper-spray Taser gun -- to her forehead and pulling the trigger, causing her right eye to explode and causing severe nerve damage in her left eye to the extent that she's not been declared totally blind," Grimes said.
Hernandez suffered severe injuries to both of her eyes, Grimes said.
Clark is charged with assault likely to cause great bodily injury, assault with a less-lethal weapon, assault under the color of authority and use of force causing serious bodily injury.
He is now free on $50,000 bail.
Clark has been placed on administrative leave by the Beaumont Police Department.
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