Police pepper spraying assaulting and arresting UC Davis students During a peaceful Occupy protest at UC Davis police came in to tear down tents and proceeded to arrest students who stood in their way Once students peacefully demanded the release of the arrested a police officer unnecessarily pepper sprays the students to open a path for the rest of the officers The officer who sprayed the students was UC Davis Police Lt John Pike Lieutenant John Pike 530 752 3989 Police Station Email japikeiii ucdavis edu Annette M Spicuzza UC Davis Police Chief 530 752 3113 Chancellor Linda Katehi 530 752 2065 email chancellorkatehi ucdavis edu Ten Things You Should Know About Friday s UC Davis Police Violence 1 The protest at which UC Davis police officers used pepper spray and batons against unresisting demonstrators was an entirely nonviolent one None of the arrests at UC Davis in the current wave of activism have been for violent offenses Indeed as the New York Times reported this morning the university s administration has reported no instances of violence by any protesters Not one 2 The unauthorized tent encampment was dismantled before the pepper spraying began Students had set up tents on campus on Thursday and the administration had allowed them to stay up overnight When campus police ordered students to take the tents down on Friday afternoon however most complied The remainder of the tents were quickly removed by police without incident before the pepper spray incident 3 Students did not restrict the movement of police at any time during the demonstration After police made a handful of arrests in the course of taking down the students tents some of the remaining demonstrators formed a wide seated circle around the officers and arrestees UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza has claimed that officers were unable to leave that circle There was no way out she told the Sacramento Bee They were cutting the officers off from their support It s a very volatile situation But multiple videos clearly show that the seated students made no effort to impede the officers movement Indeed Lt Pike who initiated the pepper spraying of the group was inside the circle moments earlier To position himself to spray he simply stepped over the line 4 Lt Pike was not in fear for his safety when he sprayed the students Chief Spicuzza told reporters on Thursday that her officers had been concerned for their safety when they began spraying But again multiple videos show this claim to be groundless The most widely distributed video of the incident viewed as I write this by nearly 700 000 people on YouTube begins just moments before Lt Pike begain spraying but another video which starts a few minutes earlier shows Pike chatting amiably with one activist even patting him casually on the back The pat on the back occurs just two minutes and nineteen seconds before Pike pepper sprayed the student he had just been chatting with and all of his friends 5 University of California Police are not authorized to use pepper spray except in circumstances in which it is necessary to prevent physical injury to themselves or others From the University of California s Universitywide Police Policies and Administrative Procedures Chemical agents are weapons used to minimize the potential for injury to officers offenders or other persons They should only be used in situations where such force reasonably appears justified and necessary 6 UC police are not authorized to use physical force except to control violent offenders or keep suspects from escaping Another quote from the UC s policing policy Arrestees and suspects shall be treated in a humane manner they shall not be subject to physical force except as required to subdue violence or ensure detention No officer shall strike an arrestee or suspect except in self defense to prevent an escape or to prevent injury to another person 7 The UC Davis Police made no effort to remove the student demonstrators from the walkway peacefully before using pepper spra