Observer » Kaylee Dedrick

Occupy Wall Street’s Pepper Spray Couple Gets Engaged

Drew Grant — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:06:42 -0400

Young love: Robert Godt and Kaylee Dedrick...engaged!

Kaylee Dedrick was just an innocent Occupy Wall Street protester back in September when Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna blew pepper spray directly into her face, which in turn blew her directly into the arms of her now-fiance.

It's an OWS Valentine's miracle!

We had written (somewhat cynically, because we are cold-hearted Scrooges), that the romance between Ms. Dedrick and 24-year-old Robert Grodt from Santa Cruz was bound to fail, despite the fact that the duo had met when he saved her from further harm after the pepper spraying incident, pulling her into a nearby movie theater and washing her eyes out. We weren't just hating: Mr. Godt had told The Wall Street Journal in November that he had enjoyed the sleeping bags of several women since arriving at Zuccotti Park, and that his out-in-the-open make-out sessions were "a natural human thing."

While the timeline is a little bit fuzzy as to when Mr. Godt and Ms. Dedrick officially started dating, (as well as to when Ms. Dedrick started being interested in men) The New York Observer pegged him as a Z-Park playa, and had entirely forgotten about the incident until we received an email from Kaylee Dedrick's mother this afternoon.

She informed us that the two were now engaged, and that Mr. Godt had proposed to her daughter in Zuccotti Park on New Year's Eve.

"And he is really a nice guy after all," wrote the older Ms. Dedrick.

Hey, we're happy to admit that we were wrong to judge the love between two demonstrators: mazal tov to the both of you.

Occupy Wall Street's Pepper Spray Romance Just Got a Little Bit Shady

Drew Grant — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:56:44 -0400

Kaylee Dedrick and Robert Grodt (via NYDN)

Remember the beautiful story of love amongst the protesters? When Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna used his pepper spray on the young Kaylee Dedrick, her savior came in the form of a young man from Santa Cruz named Robert Grodt, who dragged Ms. Dedrick to safety and washed her face in a utility closet. The two claimed to have been inseparable ever since the September 24th attack. So why did Mr. Grodt talk to the Wall Street Journal about all the women he was banging exactly one month later?

From an October 24th piece titled "At Zuccotti Park, Love Under the Tarps":

Robert Grodt did not expect to find romance when he left his girlfriend in Santa Cruz to join the demonstration. But Grodt, 24, has met — and shared sleeping bags with — several women.

“It’s a natural human thing,” Grodt said. “It’s part of our support structure. It’s nice to have someone to care about. It’s nice to have someone to hug and kiss.”

Several women? Several women, Mr. Grodt?? You'd better hope Ms. Dedrick, who has a history of litigious anger, does not decide to take you to court herself...or just pepper spray your stupid free love "support structure" right in the face.

Pepper Spray Leads to Romance, Bologna Transfer

Drew Grant — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:13:57 -0400

All is fair in love and Mace

You thought pepper spray was a force used only for controlling masses of the unwashed 99%? Think again: on Occupy Wall Street it's also a deus ex machina, as well as cupid's arrow. A really, really painful arrow applied directly to one's eyes and that can cause permanent oracular damage.

Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, whom we all remember as being the first NYPD officer identified as using his spray as a weapon against unarmed protesters in September, almost got away with just a slap on the wrist from his department. With only 10 vacation days docked due for his behavior, both Officer Bologna and the women he allegedly used excessive force against were pissed. But now there's a second repercussion Officer Bologna was been transferred out of his department to Staten Island, where the 30-year-old veteran currently resides. And since there has yet to be an Occupy Staten movement, we're sure both the protesters and Officer Bologna, who actually lives in the borough, will be much happier.

Then there's the curious case of Kaylee Dedrick, a victim of the NYPD's Mace-iest cop, who still plans on pressing charges for misdemeanor assault. Robert Grodt, another activist from Santa Cruz who was at the scene of the September 24th incident, managed to drag Ms. Dedrick after she had fallen to the ground into a nearby movie theater, where he treated her eyes in the darkness of utility closet. Now the two are an item, and the tale of the "pepper spray couple" stands as a testament to both the power of love and chemical agent.