Officer wins $38k for pepper spraying peaceful protestors

[Borgholio]

http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/pepp ... settlement

The UC Davis campus police officer known for pepper-spraying a group of peaceful protesters in 2011 during an Occupy movement rally was awarded a settlement of $38,056 by a judge on October 16. A report from Northern California newspaper, The Davis Enterprise, states that John Pike “reportedly suffered depression and anxiety” from death threats received after the November 18, 2011, incident.

A spokesperson for the University said, “This case has been resolved in accordance with state law and processes on workers’ compensation.”

The claim ”resolves all claims of psychiatric injury specific or due to continuous trauma” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Pike’s disability was rated as “moderate” according to a report released by California’s Department of Industrial Relations.

Pike was suspended with pay after the incident. The Chronicle reports his salary was $119,067 in 2011. Pike reportedly changed his phone number and email address multiple times and lived in several locations. In the wake of the pepper-spraying controversy, Anonymous published Pike’s personal information online. He left the UC Davis police force in July 2012.

After the video of the pepper-spraying went viral, Pike received more than 17,000 emails, 10,000 text messages, and hundreds of letters–all angry or threatening–according to the local police union. In response to Pike’s settlement, Bernie Goldsmith, a Davis, California lawyer supportive of the protesters, said this “sends a clear message to the next officer nervously facing off with a group of passive, unarmed students: Go on ahead. Brutalize them. Trample their rights. You will be well taken care of.”

In January, UC Davis agreed to pay students who were pepper-sprayed by Pike or arrested in the incident a settlement of $1 million. According to The Atlantic, each of the 21 plaintiffs involved would have received around $30,000 after legal fees–around $8,000 less than the settlement awarded to John Pike.

[krakonfour]

I love the law.

[Ralin]

Good to see that this poor man was compensated for the trauma he suffered in serving the public.

[Mr Bean]

Good to see that this poor man was compensated for the trauma he suffered in serving the public.

I'm not happy about it but considering the amount of money... pass that's most likely not even a year salary for someone who will be vilified for the rest of his life. I'd prefer he would have lost his job rather than being allowed to quit but the fact remains he lost a 110k job and is getting a 38k payout.

That's cheap since I expected him to get about five years salary or 550k worth for his "distress"

[Kamakazie Sith]

This title is inaccurate. He was awarded $38k for diagnosed psychological harm caused by death threats. Had Anonymous acted in a professional manner then it is likely he would not be getting this settlement. I blame them.

Though I'm not sure why the tax payer has to foot the bill...

[Mr Bean]

Though I'm not sure why the tax payer has to foot the bill...

Workers comp has to come from somewhere.
Also expecting an internet mob to act in a professional manor is much like objecting to a pitchfork and torch mob tracking mud everywhere.

[Simon_Jester]

Yeah.

Nevertheless, if someone's issuing death threats and he wants to sue, because he is receiving those death threats because of an act he carried out on the job, that is not out of line. Even if he violated orders or basic common sense, that does not mean he can reasonably expect death threats from anonymous private citizens as a consequence, or that he should be forced to put up with them without recompense.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Though I'm not sure why the tax payer has to foot the bill...

Workers comp has to come from somewhere.
Also expecting an internet mob to act in a professional manor is much like objecting to a pitchfork and torch mob tracking mud everywhere.

True on both. It would likely be impossible for those responsible to be forced to pay and Anonymous doesn't really have a leadership structure. It's basically a flag for anyone to hold to do whatever they want.

[Thanas]

The problem with this ruling is not that he got compensation, the problem is that he got significantly less than the people who he caused physical harm to did.

[Highlord Laan]

This title is inaccurate. He was awarded $38k for diagnosed psychological harm caused by death threats. Had Anonymous acted in a professional manner then it is likely he would not be getting this settlement. I blame them.

Though I'm not sure why the tax payer has to foot the bill...

He's one of the Great and Glorious Blue Shields of the People. We should be PROUD to foot the bill after he gets weepy for being called out on hosing down innocent and nonviolent people with pepper spray.

"Psychological harm" from death threats and taunts my ass. The fucking doughnut hunter didn't like how he was getting bullied by people he wasn't allowed to abuse with impunity anymore and went crying to a judge rather than manning up. I hope the worthless fuck chokes on his daily box of Krispy Kremes.

[Napoleon the Clown]

That's the most reasonable response I've seen in this entire thread. Of course death threats are the appropriate response, and someone should be happy to be told "I'm gonna kill you."


No sarcasm this time. Death threats are disproportionate to what he did. If all that was sent to him was stuff saying he was out of line then he'd have no place to complain. But people were saying they wanted to kill him and these people had his home address. It's reasonable to be kind of freaked out when you've got a bunch of people saying they're going to kill you and know where you live.

[The Romulan Republic]

Highlord Laan, getting death threats is not just "...being called out..." and being bullied. Death threats are against the law.

Based on what I read, the title of this thread is horse shit. The cop was paid because he was threatened, not because he attacked protesters.

Even if the officer did something wrong, it is not okay to lie or to make death threats. The pro-death threats people can piss off, just like their Tea Party bretheren.

[RogueIce]

Though I'm not sure why the tax payer has to foot the bill...

He worked for a public university. Who else was going to pay his worker's compensation claim?

Which is what it was according to "the report" cited by the OP's article. Also Mr Bean, it states that he was fired and was appealing his termination, which is rather different than the MSNBC article's wording that he merely "left" the UC Davis Police.

Basically that summary article kind of sucks.

[Tanasinn]

How is bacon bits here entitled to workman's comp? He wasn't injured in the course of doing his job, he was injured - if you actually believe that - outside of it.

[TimothyC]

How is bacon bits here entitled to workman's comp? He wasn't injured in the course of doing his job, he was injured - if you actually believe that - outside of it.

The justification is that he is/was being harassed for actions taken in the pursuance of his duties on the police force.

[Dalton]

He's one of the Great and Glorious Blue Shields of the People. We should be PROUD to foot the bill after he gets weepy for being called out on hosing down innocent and nonviolent people with pepper spray.

"Psychological harm" from death threats and taunts my ass. The fucking doughnut hunter didn't like how he was getting bullied by people he wasn't allowed to abuse with impunity anymore and went crying to a judge rather than manning up. I hope the worthless fuck chokes on his daily box of Krispy Kremes.

You need to cut this internet tough guy shit.

[Zeropoint]

I humbly suggest that justice would be served if he were sprayed with the same pepper spray that he used, at intervals long enough to recover properly, once for each student that he sprayed.

[Thanas]

I humbly suggest that such a worldview is fitting for a barbarian of the age of Hammurabi.

[Borgholio]

I humbly suggest that such a worldview is fitting for a barbarian of the age of Hammurabi.

And that's a bad thing because...

229. If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.

230. If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death.

Oh, right.

[Simon_Jester]

The problem with this ruling is not that he got compensation, the problem is that he got significantly less than the people who he caused physical harm to did.

Er... if I'm reading that correctly, I fail to see the problem. Or did you mean it the other way around?

[Thanas]

Yeah. Sorry. From the article it is quite clear that he got significantly more than the persons he actually caused physical damage to.

[Simon_Jester]

As a matter of law, that revolves around the question of whether it is worse to be threatened with death than to be sprayed with pepper spray. I do not know what you think of that.

As a matter of what I would like, I do agree that the people he sprayed should come out ahead compared to him- but that invokes the underlying justice or lack thereof in his actions, which is beyond the scope of the civil court case being settled here.

[Simon_Jester]

As a matter of law, that revolves around the question of whether it is worse to be threatened with death than to be sprayed with pepper spray. I do not know what you think of that.

As a matter of what I would like, I do agree that the people he sprayed should come out ahead compared to him- but that invokes the underlying justice or lack thereof in his actions, which is beyond the scope of the civil court case being settled here.

[Thanas]

I full well know the law.

[Zeropoint]

I humbly suggest that such a worldview is fitting for a barbarian of the age of Hammurabi.

You're entirely correct, of course. However, recall that the Code of Hammurabi was progressive for its time by limiting punishment to no more than the damage inflicted . . . for someone suggesting death in response to pepper spraying, Hammurabi's ideas would be a step UP.