UC Davis Pepper Spray Cops Get Off Scot-Free

Chris | InformationLiberation
Sep. 21, 2012

"We hereby find our enforcers not guilty," said the District Attorney.

Just joking, but that's essentially what just happened.

Via The Sacramento Bee:
The pepper-spraying of students by UC Davis police officers last November was not criminal conduct, Yolo County District Attorney's office concluded Wednesday following an inquiry into officers' response to protestors on the campus.

"(V)iewing the incident through the totality of the circumstances, there is insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force involved in the November 18, 2011, pepper spraying was unlawful and therefore warrants the filing of criminal charges," officials said in a statement announcing the report's findings.

The response by campus police clad in riot gear last Nov. 18, punctuated by the image of police Lt. John Pike calmly pepper-spraying seated student protestors, was met with international scorn.

Pike was later relieved of duty; his police chief, Annette Spicuzza, resigned under fire; and withering reports from a specially-convened task force led by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso and independent consultant, Kroll, detailed a dysfunctional police department and "systematic and repeated failures" by university leaders.
Fortunately, the pepper sprayed students at least won a settlement off the college, they report the college lost "more than $1 million in legal and other fees."













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