Occupy Pepper Spray Cop Awarded $38,000

A campus police officer who became virally famous after he was filmed at UC Davis’ Occupy protest dousing occupiers with pepper spray has been awarded $38,000 in workers’ compensation for suffering he endured after the event.

While Lt. John Pike was not pepper sprayed in the face, it was determined that the incident’s aftermath caused the UC Davis campus police officer to suffer. Pike was ridiculed and lambasted worldwide when the stunt was posted to YouTube, and the inventor of pepper spray even spoke out to say that the substance was not meant to be used in such a fashion.

Pike was later fired by UC Davis after the 2011 pepper spray Occupy incident. The Guardian reports that Pike’s actions caused a delayed termination, and says:

“Pike was placed on paid administrative leave after the incident and was fired eight months later in July 2012 – although an internal investigation actually found he had acted appropriately… Video filmed at the November 2011 protest showed Pike, who was dressed in riot gear and wearing a helmet with visor, walking along a line of seated protesters spraying a steady stream of orange tear-gas toward their faces.”

The paper also quotes Davis lawyer Bernie Goldsmith, who says that the settlement in favor of Pike is a strike across the bow against peaceful protesters. Goldsmith explains that Pike’s Occupy payout “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 response to the October 16 settlement for Pike after the Occupy incident, UC Davis spokesman Andy Fell said in a statement:

“This case has been resolved in accordance with state law and processes on workers’ compensation. The final resolution is in line with permanent impairment as calculated by the state’s disability evaluation unit.”

Pike’s Occupy settlement is the second this year related to the high-profile mass pepper spraying incident. Dozens of protesters who were subject to the use of pepper spray liberally (as seen in the video above) were awarded $1 million total for injury and trauma sustained on campus that day, slightly less per protester than Pike was awarded.

The $38,000 paid to the Occupy pepper spray cop is meant to “[resolve] all claims of psychiatric injury specific or due to continuous trauma from applicant’s employment at UC Davis.” During his employment at UC Davis, Pike’s annual salary was about $119,000 in 2011.