Originally published October 30 2013
Outrage as California cop who pepper-sprayed students awarded $38,000 for 'psychiatric suffering' he claims to have endured
by PF Louis
(NaturalNews) The graphic video imagery of a University of California - Davis campus cop casually pepper spraying students in a sit-in demonstration outdoors has resurfaced again. It was featured on an a recent NBC News program, which announced that the spraying officer, Lt. John Pike, was just awarded $38,055 in worker's compensation.
Poor officer Pike was getting lots of hate emails while on paid leave for eight months after his brutal pepper spraying of students sitting on the ground with arms interlocked.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Pike's pay for 2010 was over $110,000. Divide that figure by eight and you'll see that Pike was getting almost $14,000 monthly for leisurely viewing his hate emails. [1]
The videoed incident, which went viral, forced some of the campus cops and former campus police chief Annette Spicuzza to quit. The new chief, Matt Carmichael, ignored the official police internal review exonerating Pike of wrong doing and terminated Pike in the "best interests" of the campus police force's future, after Pike's paid vacation. [2]
That's when Pike filed for his worker's compensation due to emotional distress over the hate mail and job loss.
Meanwhile, the civil suit by 21 students through the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) against the university and its campus police, originally set at $1 million, was settled for significantly less.
According to the campus newspaper, The California Aggie, 11 students received $30,000, while others received nothing. [3]
The event that originally went viral in 2011
The video available in a news report below shows Pike casually spraying the students point-blank in the face and head with lots of pepper spray. Pike was accompanied by what appears to be almost the whole campus police force, who waited until the sit-in group was totally blinded and helpless, so they could cart them away and arrest them. [4]
The peaceful protest was against student tuition rates being raised dramatically over the years. UC Davis, located just outside Sacramento, is part of California's vast state university network, 16 campuses in all. State universities are public institutions that are expected to charge lower tuition than private universities.
The small band of students, obviously inspired by the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, had established a tiny encampment of tents on the campus grounds. Pike, with his riot-gear-equipped cops standing by, ordered them to leave. They refused and Pike strolled casually back and forth in front of the seated protesters continually spraying them at point blank range.
Pike asserted that it was appropriate. He claimed that not rendering them helpless could have lead to further injuries among the protesters and campus cops at the scene.
Others claim all of the students protesting could have been handcuffed while seated. The other students had gathered as spectators and were no threat. And Pike had plenty of backup force behind him
What's the effect of being pepper sprayed at close range? One source commenter who's been both tasered and pepper sprayed said he'd rather be tasered, because it's over in minutes. But it takes much longer to get over the totally incapacitating agony of pepper spray. [5]
Pepper spray is worse than mace ever was. Mace, a derivative of tear gas, was replaced by the stronger capsaicin (cayenne's active ingredient) solution, because it's more effective against crazies, drunks and even bears!
Pepper spray's boiling eyes sensation is blinding, it makes breathing difficult, and it has a powerful burning effect on the skin. It's impossible to wipe off and very difficult to wash off, leaving one painfully incapacitated for up to a few hours. [6]
It's an effective non-lethal defensive weapon against attackers, but using it on seated peaceful demonstrators is a bit sadistic.
Sources for this article include:
[1] http://usnews.nbcnews.com
[2] http://www.theaggie.org
[3] http://www.theaggie.org
[4] http://www.nbcnews.com
[5] http://gizmodo.com
[6] http://bestpepperspray.net
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