Love Connection Born Out Of Pepper Spray At Occupy Wall Street

Protester Kaylee Dedrick, who was pepper-sprayed by Tony Balogna but may have found true love amongst the tents (Jim Kiernan's flickr)

We've heard all about how Occupy Wall Street protesters are having loud sex among the tents and the tables at Zuccotti Park as OWS stretches into its sixth week there. But it isn't all just hedonistic young people losing their virginities and gaining some STD's—some protesters may be finding true love. And one demonstrator who was pepper-sprayed by infamous officer Anthony Bologna shared her story of getting blinded by love with the News: "Nothing strengthens a relationship like a chemical agent," said medic Robert Grodt.

Kaylee Dedrick was one of two protesters pepper-sprayed by Tony Bologna on September 24th at an OWS rally—she had seemingly been cooperating with police who had placed her into a kettling pen before the incident. Although she's still angry about the incident (you can watch the whole series of events unfold in the video below), there was one silver lining to the fact that she felt like her eyes were on fire: she met Grodt, a volunteer medic who rushed to help her after she was hit.

He took her to a nearby cinema for treatment: "I was treating her in a utility closet," he recalled. Shortly thereafter, the two bonded on the roof of the cinema over their shared hatred of the NYPD. "I think the main topic was 'F--- the police,' and how crazy it was, and how lucky we were that we got out when we did," said Dedrick, a teacher's aide from Albany. With that conversation, the romance was underway, and the two now slumber side-by-side, engaging in that "natural human thing."

The two are both still upset that Bologna only lost ten vacation days for the incident: "It was a tremendous amount of pain. I was blind for abut 45 minutes... I want something to happen, for this man to feel the repercussions of what he did that day," Dedrick said previously. But they are happy to have found one another as a result: "It happened for the good cause of the occupation." Ahh, to be young, horny, and in love after a month of knowing each other under heightened circumstances. If they aren't using the OWS condoms, we wouldn't be too surprised if they provided OWS with the first Zuccotti Park baby.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on October 26, 2011 3:23 PM

Comments [rss]

Parker East

Here is my second video contribution to the movement. Pass it along.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Worth watching... subscribe if you like it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Mr...

chee1rs

how about Agent Orange next time ???

tsol

"The two are both still upset that Bologna only lost ten vacation days for the incident"

And yet I'll bet they're big supprters of public employee's unions....

LICnative

I'm working on a Lifetime movie of the week right now. A woman wronged falls in love with her unemployed medic savior. Not wanting to move to Albany, they decide to raise their family on the gritty concrete of lower Manhattan, in donated tents and OWS supplied sleeping bags. Who needs money when love is enough?

Markie Post plays Kaylee. I'm thinking Shia LaBeouf as the medic with a heart of gold, forced to perform dangerous operations in a peep show broom closet. Tony Bologna of course will be portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Maybe I can get sponsored by McCormack's "hot and spicy" pepper blend.

Rocknrope

I wonder what he used to coat her eyes in that utility closet?

TheRealCannibal

...

Jay!

Yeah...that's gonna last.

nayerr

2 idiots in "love"

jfu222

if a protestor fell in love with a cop....now that would be a story.

TimSPC

I hope not, 'cause you know, relationships that start under intense circumstances, they never last.

RobertMosesSupposesErroneously

Speed?

virgilstarkwell

"I want something to happen, for this man to feel the repercussions of what he did that day"

something did happen. he lost 106.67 minutes of vacation pay for every minute you were 'blind'.

Amber

Wait... why are you defending Tony Bologna here?

sekaer

let's put some pepper spray in your eyes then, you bootlicker. poor fascist misogynist pig, at least he got banished to s.i.

virgilstarkwell

hey, i was just responding to the fact that she implied that nothing happened. how the fuck does that make me a misogynist?

or, in your world, is a man a misogynist any time he says anything remotely negatively or questioning about a woman?

sekaer

sorry, i jumped to discussing tony bologna, who is the misogynist pig, without clear dispensation of proper pronouns...you, sir, are the bootlicker for mocking the abuse she took and implicitly saying his lost vacation time is undue punishment over nothing.

virgilstarkwell

"and implicitly saying his lost vacation time is undue punishment over nothing."

i said no such thing - in fact, i said he got penalized exactly 106.67 minutes for every minute she was blind.

Amber

wah wah, so what! She should have never been blind for any minutes in the first place. Since it seems you need to be reminded: a high-standing figure of authority pepper sprayed a civilian, causing intense physical harm, without reason or cause. I'd say each minute of her extreme and unnecessary pain is worth more than 100 minutes of his vacation.

PS, you manage to look like both an asshole and an idiot for attacking the victim in this situation.

sekaer

i like how you rewrote that word blind without the scare quotes. and wasn't that your point? all those minutes he lost compared to her non-injury? if i'm mistaken and that's not what you meant, you're a helluva bad writer