Liz Nichols sat in the front row Monday in a Multnomah County Courtroom, picking through cloth patches saying "99%." Portland police Sgt. Jeff McDaniel sat two rows back, ready to testify against her at trial.

The distance between them was about the same on Nov. 17 when McDaniel gave Nichols a mouthful of pepper spray during that day's Occupy Portland protest outside Chase Bank downtown.

A photograph of the incident, captured by The Oregonian's Randy L. Rasmussen, shows Nichols' being sprayed with her mouth wide open. The picture was immediately picked up by news publications worldwide and became one of the iconic moments of the Occupy movement.

Nichols, 21, was arrested that day and charged with three counts of interfering with a peace officer. She and her lawyer, Kenneth Kreuscher, intend to fight the charges, based on the First Amendment and free speech provisions in the Oregon Constitution.

"I feel like her rights were violated," Kreuscher said.

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McDaniel, a 10-year veteran and patrol sergeant out of North Precinct, clearly holds another view, describing her a "defiant" in his police report.

On Monday, he donned his business best: a lavender shirt, dark blue tie and dark suit. On Nov. 17, he was clad in black riot gear.

His report describes a chaotic scene outside the bank, across from Pioneer Courthouse Square, with protesters yelling obscenities at police. He said Nichols -- identified as No. 82 in the report -- joined others in pushing against the police line and that he gave a "hard shove" back. He asked another police officer to hand him his pepper spray and moments later sprayed a man. The report says a woman became aggressive and that he shot her too with spray.

"It was so rapidly evolving and chaotic, I am not sure if she was taken into custody," the report says.

McDaniel sprayed another man and moved down the line where he saw Nichols again. The report says she was "still being defiant and not moving for the horses as ordered." He heard an order to arrest her. The report says Officer Doris Paisley grabbed Nichols and that she resisted arrest so McDaniel shot her with pepper spray.

Nichols says Paisley jabbed her in the ribs with a baton and pressed it against her throat. That made her angry.

"She wanted to get a point across but she crossed a line she wasn't supposed to cross," McDaniel said outside the courtroom. "I was just doing what I need to do to do my job."

Nichols was supposed to be tried Monday, along with other protesters who were arrested Nov. 17. But Judge Cheryl Albrecht agreed to a postponement, giving Nichols' lawyer until March 5 to prepare motions.

Nichols, who grew up in the tiny town of Mountain Home, Ark., said after her arrest that she would leave Portland when the Occupy movement died down. But now she plans to stay. She has a wide circle of friends, hopes to find a job and plans to enroll at Portland State University, perhaps becoming a math teacher one day.

After the hearing, she was shocked to see the officer who sprayed her standing outside the courtroom.

"That's him?" she asked, stunned. Then she walked off, clicking down the hall in her black high-heeled boots, tight black dress and black leather jacket dotted with protest butons.

McDaniel left, too, but headed in his well-shined black shoes the opposite direction.

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