Prosecutors Won’t Charge Pepper-Spraying Cops

Prosecutors announced they will not charge the UC Davis police officers who doused nonviolent Occupy protesters with military-grade pepper spray last November. The Yolo County District Attorney’s office said in a statement there was insufficient evidence to prove the use of force was illegal, relying upon findings by a university task force that the officers perceived they were dealing with a hostile mob, according to AP. The task force’s report also found that the use of a weapon not authorized by the department was “objectively unreasonable” and could have been prevented. John Pike, the police lieutenant whose casual pepper-spraying was caught on video and broadcast across the Internet, was fired last month, and the UC Davis police chief resigned in April. Earlier this week, the university’s governing board reached a proposed settlement with 21 current and former students, after a federal court ruled in July that UC Davis’ police forces could be held liable for any student injuries that resulted from the incident. The settlement is awaiting approval by a federal judge.