MASSILLON, Ohio (WOIO) - Parents from Missouri are still in shock after Massillon police used pepper spray against football players last Friday during a Tigers football game.

“He called me screaming like ‘mom, they just maced me’ and I was like ‘what, what is going on?!’” Ashley Ashburn recalls when she spoke about what happened to her son, D.J. with 19 News.

In a statement posted on Facebook Tuesday afternoon, Massillon Police say the officers “operated within our policies and procedures for the use-of-force action taken.”

We encourage the public to view the attached video, in its entirety, of the end of the Massillon Vs. Cardinal Ritter... Posted by Massillon Police Department on Tuesday, October 7, 2025

16-year-old D.J. and the rest of the Cardinal Ritter Lions football team tra

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