Thread: Cops don't mind getting video recorded pepper spraying stude

UC Davis Incident Shows Pepper Spray Becoming Weapon Of Choice Against Occupy Activists (updated)
Cops don't mind getting video recorded pepper spraying students


At 2:50, one cop can be seen smiling and chatting with a cameraman.

The interesting part is that despite all the cameras, one cop blatantly pepper sprays a group of sitting UC Davis students who apparently were refusing to move.

The incident took place Friday afternoon as police were breaking up an Occupy encampment.

One woman was rushed to the hospital with chemical burns.

The university chancellor said police were called in "to protect the health and safety of our campus community," according to her statement below.

The name of the officer spraying the students as if they were cornered roaches is Lt. John Pike, according to the following tweet:

@mtracey: Lieutenant John Pike pepper-sprayed UC Davis students today, phone number and email: 530-752-3989 japikeiii@ucdavis.edu #OWS

Ten people, including nine students, were arrested for defying the campus ban on camping.

It was only a little over a month ago where police using pepper spray on protesters had to be extremely coy about it, as Tony Baloney showed us.

But now police around the country are shamelessly pepper spraying anybody from an 84-year-old woman in Seattle to a woman appearing to be in her teens in Portland.

UPDATE: Here is another video providing a different angle.



Now there is a petition circulating demanding the resignation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. I just signed it.

Also, UC Davis faculty member Nathan Brown is calling for the resignation of Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi.

1) to express my outrage at the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest on the UC Davis campus today

2) to hold you accountable for this police brutality

3) to demand your immediate resignation

Katehi took the reigns of the university in 2009 under questionable circumstances because she was linked to an admissions scandal at the University of Illinois that favored students with political clout.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education:

The difference in today’s news is that the episode appears to tie the university’s former provost, Linda P.B. Katehi, to the leg up given to the priest’s family friend. Ms. Katehi, formerly the engineering dean at Purdue University, supervised the admissions office as provost at Illinois but has insisted she was kept in the dark about the special treatment accorded certain applicants.

She was named in May as the new chancellor of the University of California at Davis and is scheduled to take office next month, but since the Tribune started its series of articles on the alleged admissions abuses, one California lawmaker has questioned her appointment. The University of California’s president, Mark G. Yudof, told the San Francisco Chronicle two weeks ago, however, that “I have 100-percent confidence in her.â€

California campus police chief on leave after pepper-spraying
By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 9:42 AM EST, Mon November 21, 2011


(CNN) -- The police chief at the University of California at Davis has been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate officers' use of pepper spray against protesters, the university said in a statement Monday.

"As I have gathered more information about the events that took place on our Quad on Friday, it has become clear to me that this is a necessary step toward restoring trust on our campus," UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said in the statement.

On Sunday the university said it had placed two police officers on administrative leave after video of them pepper-spraying non-violent protesters at point-blank range sparked outrage at school officials.

The decision to place Chief Annette Spicuzza on administrative leave was necessary to allow "a fact-based review of events, assist in calming the community environment and allow the department to focus on its current and substantial demands," Vice Chancellor John Meyer said in a letter to police department staff quoted in the university's statement.

Katehi was scheduled to create a task force Monday to review the incident and issue recommendations within 30 days.

The chancellor also accepted students' invitation to attend a rally at noon (3 p.m. ET) Monday in the campus Quad, university spokeswoman Claudia Morain said.

Occupy roundup: A fallout, a silent protest and a new encampment

Video of police pepper-spraying demonstrators at the Friday protest sparked widespread criticism, including calls for Katehi's resignation.

Announcing the placement of the officers on leave in a written statement Sunday, Katehi said she shared the "outrage" of students and was "deeply saddened" by the use of the chemical irritant by campus police.

"I am deeply saddened that this happened on our campus, and as chancellor, I take full responsibility for the incident," she said. "However, I pledge to take the actions needed to ensure that this does not happen again."

Time: Watch video of police pepper-spraying and arresting students

A group of about a dozen protesters sat on a path with their arms interlocked as police moved in to clear out a protest encampment affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement Friday. Most of the protesters had their heads down as a campus police officer walked down the line, spraying them in their faces in a sweeping motion.

"I was shocked," Sophia Kamran, one of the protesters subjected to the spray, said Saturday. "When students are sitting on the ground and no way of moving to be violent, being totally peaceful, I don't understand the use of pepper spray against them."

The school said 10 protesters arrested were given misdemeanor citations for unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. Eleven were treated for the effects of pepper spray, which burns the eyes and nose, causing coughing, gagging and shortness of breath.

The Davis Faculty Association, citing incidents at other campuses, demanded "that the chancellors of the University of California cease using police violence to repress nonviolent political protests."

It called for greater attention to cuts in state funding to education and rising tuition. Its board demanded Katehi resign, saying she exhibited "gross failure of leadership."

Saturday, Katehi called the officers' actions "chilling" and said the video "raises many questions about how best to handle situations like this." But she refused calls from faculty members and others for her to step down, saying she did not violate campus policies.

CNN's Kara Devlin contributed this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/21/us/califo ... index.html