UC Davis Pepper Spray Cop, Lt. John Pike–symbol of a banal, bureaucratic and surreal evil, an unflattering picture of man as moral monster.

UPDATE 4/14/2016:

• UC Davis paid $175,000 or more to scrub police pepper spray incident from web searches
• UC Davis contracted with consultants for at least $175,000 to scrub the Internet of negative online postings following the November 2011 pepper-spraying of students and to improve the reputations of both the university and Chancellor.

UPDATE 10/24/2013:

• Occupy Davis ‘pepper-spray cop’ John Pike awarded $38k in a settlement

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Lt. John Pike.

UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike, who used pepper spray on seated students, sprays them as if they are cockroaches.  His iconic image is now and forever a symbol of a banal, bureaucratic and surreal evil, an unflattering picture of man as moral monster. (Source)

The image of him and his confident, casual, almost bored, delivery of a torrent of orange . . .

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“The apparent absence of empathy from the UC Davis police officer, applying a toxic chemical to humans as if they were garden pests, is shocking. Even more so because it is a university police officer.” — Philip Kennicott, Washington Post

People gather to share the truth but these brave souls are being brutally attacked by those who want to suppress the truth. People throughout history, fought and died for the right of free speech. Only in repressive regimes is this denied you. Send love and protection to those who speak out in your name. They ask only for truth and reconciliation.  (Source)

In prison, pepper spray cannot be used on inmates.

Yet it’s “okay” for UC Davis to spray students?

“Regulations prohibit the use of pepper spray on inmates in all circumstances other than the immediate threat of violence. If a prisoner is seated, by definition the use of pepper spray is prohibited. Any prison guard who used pepper spray on a seated prisoner would face immediate disciplinary review for the use of excessive force. Even in the case of a prison riot in which inmates use extreme violence, once a prisoner sits down he or she is not considered to be an imminent threat. And if prison guards go into a situation where the use of pepper spray is considered likely, they are required to have medical personnel nearby to treat the victims of the chemical agent.” (Source)

California’s felons, incarcerated for violent crimes, seem to have more rights than students at public universities.

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Pepper spray one of us; two more appear.

Pepper spray cops will try, but won’t stop waves of change.

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Your Turn

Care to share an opinion about all this?

Here’s officer John Pike’s contact information from UC Davis website:

Lieutenant John Pike
530-752-3989
japikeiii@ucdavis.edu

UC Davis says they will “investigate” the pepper spraying of students.

Want updates? Here’s a helpful link:

“To check the status of an open investigation or to obtain information regarding complaints filed against and investigated by the police department you may email us at jxsouza@ucdavis.edu.” (Source)

Salaries of all state University employees are public information in California.

Lt. John Pike “earned” over $110,000 per year. (Source1, Source2)

California Cop Who Pepper-Sprayed UC Davis Students Claims Psychiatric Damage

To serve and protect.

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‘You Can Crush the Flowers, But You Can’t Stop the Spring’

Alexander Dubcek, the government official turned hero of the Prague Spring uprising of 1968, once said, “You can crush the flowers, but you can’t stop the spring.” . . .

Consider the liberal mayor of Oakland, who speaks with outrage of people camping without a permit but has nothing to say about the police she dispatched to tear-gas a woman in a wheelchair, shoot a young Iraq war veteran in the head, and assault people while they slept. Consider the billionaire mayor of New York who dispatched the NYPD on a similar middle-of-the-night raid on November 15th. Recall this item included in a bald list of events that night: “tear-gassing the kitchen tent.” Ask yourself when did kitchens really need to be attacked with chemical weapons?

Does an 84-year-old woman need to be tear-gassed in Seattle? Does a three-tours-of-duty veteran need to be beaten until his spleen ruptures in Oakland? Does our former poet laureate need to be bashed in the ribs after his poet wife is thrown to the ground at UC Berkeley?. . .

Ex-marine, Shamar Thomas, clad in worn fatigues and medals told off the NYPD: “This is not a war zone. These are unarmed people. It doesn’t make you tough to hurt these people. It doesn’t. Stop hurting these people!” . . .

Dream big. Occupy your hopes. Talk to strangers. Live in public. Don’t stop now.

I’m sure of one thing: there are a lot more flowers coming.

Rebecca Solnit (Source)

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Related articles

• ‘UC Davis Pepper Spray Cop’ Will Answer Your Burning Questions [Memes] (gawker.com)
• What Pepper Spray Does To Your Body (gizmodo.com.au)
• Pepper-spraying Officer ‘No. I Want to Spray These Kids.’ (crooksandliars.com)
• California Law Expressly Prohibits Spraying Protestors Except in Cases of Self-Defense
• Caught on Camera: 10 Shockingly Violent Police Assaults on Occupy Protesters
• Police on Steroids (possibly 1 in 4)–rampant steroid drug abuse by police linked to ‘roid rage, epidemic police brutality, and excessive use of force

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