Judge approves $1 million settlement in pepper spray lawsuit
/A federal judge on January 9 approved and finalized the $1 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by UC Davis students and recent alumni who were pepper sprayed during a protest at the University in November 2011.
The federal class-action lawsuit was the result of a shocking incident in which campus police repeatedly doused seated, non-violent student demonstrators with military grade pepper spray at close range during demonstrations on November 18, 2011.
Photos and videos of the incident of UC Davis Police Lieutenant James Pike became viral, drawing attention to the repression of the Occupy movement in the U.S. and to the outrageous tactics used to repress Occupy UC Davis in particular.
"Police should never have been called out to disperse the lawful protest against steep tuition increases, police brutality against UC Berkeley protesters, and privatization of the university," said Mark E. Merin, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.
"The University never should have used police against peaceful protesters. Perhaps the economic costs of violating students' First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly will discourage similar abuse in the future," Merin added.
"If the First Amendment means anything, it's that students should be able to exercise their free speech-rights on their college campus without being afraid of police violence," Michael Risher, staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. "What happened on November 18 was among the worst examples of police violence against student demonstrators that we've seen in a generation. The early resolution to this lawsuit means that the students can begin the process of moving on and we can work with the University to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again at the University of California."
The lawsuit by 21 UC Davis students and alumni charged that the police violated state and federal constitutional protections, including the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, when they arrested and used excessive force against these non-violent demonstrators. The UC Regents approved the settlement in a September 13 meeting, and the settlement documents were filed with the court on September 26, 2012.
The task force that the University created to investigate and analyze the response to the protestors concluded in an extensive report that “The pepper spraying incident that took place on November 18, 2011 should and could have been prevented,” and found culpability at all levels of the University administration and police force.
