UC Davis Pepper Spray Suit Goes for Settlement
ByStudents hit with pepper spray by the police officers during a peaceful protest last November at the UC-Davis Campus have reached a settlement through their lawyers.
The proposed settlement of their law suit will be considered by the university's board of regents in a closed-door session at their Sept.13 meeting in San Francisco. The terms of the settlement are kept under wraps.
Once it gets approved by the board it needs to be subsequently approved in the federal court of Sacramento, for the terms to be implemented.
The approval will also mark the latest in the lengthy series of expenses triggered by the Nov. 18, 2011 incident that has cost over $1 million so far, reports SacBee.
The suit was filed in the month of February by 21 plaintiffs - 19 students and two former students - who were pepper-sprayed after they refuse to comply with campus police to disperse during a protest against rising tuition costs, among other issues.
University of California President Mark G. Yudof said in a statement issued Tuesday that no information could be released until the settlement details are filed with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento.
"Under mediation and court settlement rules, all of the parties are obligated to maintain strict confidentiality until the proposed agreement has been filed with the court," the statement said.
"The terms of any settlement reached will be available to the press with the filing and the parties will be able to discuss the matter publicly at that time."
The students' federal lawsuit accused UC Davis of infringing their rights to free speech and freedom of assembly and sought an injunction 'to prevent repetition of such a response to a non-violent protest.'
It also sought compensatory and punitive damages 'against the individual perpetrators of the illegal acts and their superiors who ordered, directed and/or committed this outrageous conduct.'
The settlement proposed was outlined in closed mediation sessions, including meetings Aug. 15 and 16 before former U.S. District Judge Raul A. Ramirez, according to documents filed in court last month.
Following the incident, the two officers who deployed the pepper spray, Lt. John Pike and Officer Alexander Lee, were discharged from their duty and are no longer employed by UC.
A confidential internal affairs investigation was conducted by the university into Pike which concluded that he acted reasonably.
Yet, UC Davis Police Chief Matthew Carmichael decided to fire Pike.