Woman accused of pepper spraying her grandchildren

A Nebraska grandmother, Nancy Knipp, 70, is facing a child abuse charge for allegedly using pepper spray on her grandchildren.

Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office investigators tell 6 News she used pepper spray on her 9 and 11-year-old grandchildren at her home near 135th and Josephine Sunday.

Deputies booked her on a felony child abuse charge.

We looked through court records and found an ongoing dispute with her daughter over visitation of grandchildren. A status check of the case is scheduled for December.

Lindsay Belmot is an attorney with Koening Dunne. She is not involved in the case, but understands the rights grandparents have.

"In Nebraska there is a statute that provides grandparents the right to have visitation with their grandchildren under certain circumstances, so if the minor child's parent or parents are deceased, the grandparents can come in and seek visitation rights. If the child's parents are divorced or seeking divorce, the grandparents can come in and have visitation rights, or if the parents were never married but paternity has been established, the grandparents can come in ans ask for visitation of the grandchildren," Belmot explained.

Documents show that Knipp was awarded visitation rights over the objection of the children's mother.