Pepper spray incident at U of Cal. David in November 2011.

The task force set up to probe the use of pepper spray on student protesters at the U. of California Davis released its report. The report concluded the campus police were at fault in the incident. I have appended a video which shows the casual use of pepper spray on students sitting down while protesting.

The incident occurred last November 18th. The report said the spraying of students who were engaged in a sit-down protest was objectively unreasonable and not in accordance with university policy.

Lt. John Pike pepper sprayed the non-violent protesters. When videos of the pepper spraying circulated on the Internet there were immediate campaigns to have Pike fired. There were calls for chancellor Linda Katehi to resign when she hesitated to take action.

The task force report concludes:"Our overriding conclusion can be stated briefly and explicitly. The pepper spraying incident that took place on Nov. 18, 2011, should and could have been prevented."

The retired justice Cruz Reynoso who chaired the task force said:"There was really no reason, we conclude, to have used the pepper spray," For much more see the full article here.