The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., received just what it wanted Saturday — attention and havoc.
About 20 members of the group, which pickets the funerals of American service members, stood on the corner of 72nd and Cass Streets before the funeral of Marine Staff Sgt. Michael Bock. The Westboro group celebrates U.S. military deaths as signs of God's hatred of American decadence.
Dozens of other people from the Omaha area lined Cass Street with American flags. Gina Moulas of Omaha said she stretched a U.S. flag in front of the Topekans so mourners wouldn't be able to see them.
About 9 a.m., a man drove by in a Ford F-150 pickup, held a large canister out his window and released a Mace-like spray into the air. Omaha police officers drove after him, stopped him and arrested him.
George Vogel, 62, of Omaha, was booked on suspicion of 16 counts of misdemeanor assault and one count of felony assault of a police officer. All counts related to exposure to the spray. He also faced a count of child neglect because there was a child in the pickup with him.
Officer Michael Pecha, a police spokesman, said it appeared the man was targeting the Westboro group.
“You couldn't see, you couldn't breathe,” said Moulas, who still had the residue of the spray on her face an hour later. “It burns like someone poured gas on you and lit it.”
She wore a small necklace featuring a photo of her son, Joshua Hollingsworth, who is in the Army and stationed in Germany.
Two or more ambulances and one firetruck assisted people at the scene.
Witnesses said people on both sides were close to each other and arguing with each other.
“They got all up in our grill,'' said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a leader of the Westboro group. “They were jostling us.''
Phelps-Roper said no one in the Westboro group was hurt by spray; she said they raised their signs to block the spray.
Leah Kossakoski of Bellevue, whose husband is in the Air Force, was at the scene. “The good guys got hit,” she said.
World-Herald staff writer Joseph Brennan contributed to this report.
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