Bystander Sues Pittsburgh Over Sonic Device At G-20

A university professor suffered permanent damage to her hearing when Pittsburgh police used a giant speaker to disperse protesters during the Group of 20 economic summit two years ago, according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Karen Piper, then a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who contends she was a bystander when protests occurred in the city on Sept. 24, 2009. Piper's hearing was damaged by the speaker, called a Long Range Acoustic Device, which the suit said "emits harmful, pain-inducing sounds over long distances."

The lawsuit targets the city and five unidentified police officials, three who operated the device, a supervisor, and a "policy-making official" who directed the device be used that day. City police officials directed questions to the Pittsburgh Law Department, where solicitor Dan Regan said he couldn't comment.

The device concentrates voice commands and a piercing, car alarm-like sound in a 30- or 60-degree cone that can be heard nearly two miles away. The volume measures 140-150 decibels three feet away -- louder than a jet engine -- but dissipates with distance. Robert Putnam, spokesman for the manufacturer, San Diego-based American Technology Corp., described the device to The Associated Press then as creating "a big spotlight of sound that you can shine on people."

Among other things, the device has been used by cargo ships to deter pirates and those who may wrongfully approach U.S. war ships.

"The intensity of being hit at close range by a high-pitched sound blast designed to deter pirate boats and terrorists at least a quarter mile away is indescribable," Piper, now an English professor at the University of Missouri, said in an ACLU news release.

"The sound vibrates through you and causes pain throughout your body, not only in the ears. I thought I might die," said Piper who added she was shocked the "device was being promoted for use on American citizens and the general public."

The devices have been used against protesters overseas, and police in New York threatened to use one during demonstrations near the Republican National Convention in 2004. Putnam said San Diego uses the devices to broadcast clear instructions for people to leave large sections of beach after festivals, and said the device has also been used in SWAT operations.

Piper was working on a book about the International Monetary Fund and World Bank and researching whether protesters have any impact on those institutions when she rode her bicycle to observe a protest during the G-20. She was about 100 feet away when the device blasted noises and commands to disperse at the protesters, according to her lawsuit.

Piper "suffered immediate pain in her ears, and she became nauseous and dizzy. She developed a severe headache. She was forced to sit down and was unable to walk," the lawsuit said. Piper contends she suffered "permanent nerve hearing loss" and related symptoms and her constitutional rights were violated by use of the device.

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