UC Davis pepper spray cop wants compensation for ‘psychiatric injury’ from 2011 incident
The police officer who was fired after infamously pepper spraying students at an occupy rally at the University of California – Davis (UCD), is now demanding workers compensation for “psychiatric injury” he says he suffered in the aftermath of that event.
Documents obtained by the Associated Press reveal that former officer John Pike has a settlement conference scheduled for August 13.
Pike, who served eleven years on the UCD police force before being fired late last year, says he suffered psychiatric injury from the 2011 incident after receiving thousands of death threats following footage showing him douse students peacefully protesting in pepper spray went viral.
In late 2011, for example, the hacking group Anonymous posted Pike’s home address, cell number, email address in a YouTube video.
“Dear Officer John Pike,” intoned a computerized voice on the video, which has since been removed by YouTube over privacy concerns. “Your information is now public domain.”
The pepper spraying incident resulted in a $1 million settlement and forced the then chief of police to resign.
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