OMG Cops pepper-spray UC Davis students, point blank in face, who are just sitting there doing nothing

UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi thinks this is the appropriate response to a peaceful sit-in.

UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike

UPDATE: The cops now say they feared for their lives because of the crowd that was gathering around them!  Look at that photo.  Look at this even better photo.  What do you see?  A dozen students on the ground looking at their feet, and some onlookers all holding up cameras at a respectable distance - you'll note the other cops aren't looking terribly worried.  Then watch the video.  The cop casually saunters over and pepper sprays the people sitting down, which is odd since supposedly they were afraid of the people who were standing up.  A) They didn't fear for their safety from the crowd, look at them.  B) Let's say they were deathly afraid of all the cell phone cameras behind pointed at them by the people standing 20 feet way.  If you feared for your safety from the crowd surrounding you, then why didn't you pepper spray the crowd? Why would you turn around and spray a bunch of kids sitting on the ground, doing nothing except looking at their feet?

Here's another shot, right before the kids get pepper-sprayed.  Notice how the cops are in fear for their lives from the very dangerous children sitting down quietly on the cement, doing absolutely nothing.  This scene is what provoked them to pepper-spray the kids in this photo.

And here's another photo.  These are the same kids who are being pepper sprayed in the photos above.  Look at these kids.  This is the scene that caused the police to "fear for their lives" and attack these kids.  (Not the terrorist fist jabs.)

These are cops.  They're trained in how to use their weapon with precision, and only when necessary.  And we're to believe that these cops, in the heat of what appears to not be a very scary moment, accidentally attacked the people who WEREN'T threatening them? They used their weapon on the wrong crowd of people.  This could have been their guns they were using - we've got cops who don't even know how to pick the right crowd of people to fire at. If they're this bad as cops, they should all be fired on the spot.

UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza said officers used force out of concern for their own safety after they were surrounded by students.

“If you look at the video you are going to see that there were 200 people in that quad,” said Chief Spicuzza. “Hindsight is 20-20 and based on the situation we were sitting in, ultimately that was the decision that was made.”

Spicuzza is a liar and should be fired.  And 20/20 is just hindsight, it's about fifteen multi-million dollar lawsuits.  And your job.

UPDATE: Not a happy day at the UC Davis Facebook page.

Here's confirmation of who the cop is, and his contact info:
Lieutenant John Pike
530-752-3989
japikeiii@ucdavis.edu

Much better picture of this neanderthal assaulting the students. Clearly no justification whatsoever for what he did. I wonder how the parents of those students feel about this? They were holding a sit-in and they got pepper-sprayed. How do alums feel? He's a university cop. UC Davis owns what this guy did.

This is outrageous. Oh my God, watch this video, below - you'll see in the first seconds all you need to see. The cop walks up to a line of students just siting down on the ground, having a sit-in basically, and he pepper-sprays them, one by one, in the face at point blank range.  There's a more detailed description of what happened further down in this post, it's far worse than I describe here.

I'm sorry, this has gone too far. This has happened in police department after police department, and it has gone too far. Our police look like the goons in Russia and China. Please watch this video and send it to everyone you know. This has gone too far.



UPDATE: UC Davis staff and administrators reportedly watched and did nothing while the police attacked. They didn't even offer to get medical help for the students afterwards. Take note kids, when you're planning what school to attend, and alums when planning who to give money to.

UCD paramedics later treated with saline the eyes of 11 protesters; two were taken to Sutter Davis Hospital. Nearby, one young woman sat on her knees, crying with her eyes shut and pink streaks of Pepto-Bismol and water running down her cheeks.

Kristin Koster, a post-doctoral lecturer, used a scarf dipped in another home remedy, Maalox and water, to help Dominic Gutierrez, who was barely able to open his eyes.

He was sprayed, he said, when he tried to shield others with his jacket.

Koster said that she was “horrified” by both the actions of police and the inaction of staff and administrators standing nearby who did not seek medical assistance for those hurt until asked.

UPDATE: UC Davis faculty members calls on university Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi to resign. Here's the faculty member's report of what happened at the protest:

Without any provocation whatsoever, other than the bodies of these students sitting where they were on the ground, with their arms linked, police pepper-sprayed students. Students remained on the ground, now writhing in pain, with their arms linked.

What happened next?

Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.

This is what happened. You are responsible for it.