State trooper placed on restricted duty after allegedly pepper spraying protester

A state trooper who can be seen in an online video apparently squirting pepper spray at a protester in Boston has been placed on restricted duty while the incident is investigated, State Police said Wednesday.

The trooper, whom State Police will not identify while the investigation is ongoing, appears to shoot two quick bursts of the eye irritant at Kin Moy as he videotaped a demonstration protesting grand jury decisions not to indict white police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City. Moy posted the video on YouTube last week.

Moy can been seen with an orange liquid running down his face near the end of the 39-second video.

A statement from State Police, which did not refer to Moy by name, said the person who posted the video has not responded to several requests to contact investigators; the requests were conveyed in YouTube comments, and in messages left at his home and a local gym, and with a relative, it said.

Moy did not respond to requests for comment sent by the Globe through social media on Wednesday.

Moy, who is a mixed martial arts fighter, on Wednesday evening posted a message on Twitter saying that he is preparing for a competition on Saturday, and “will not be replying to calls or messages regarding last Thursday’s incident until after.”

On Monday, the Massachusetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it was in contact with Moy, and is “deeply concerned” whenever the First Amendment right to record police officers performing their duties is threatened.

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