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The 21 students and recent graduates who sued the University of California at Davis after they were pepper-sprayed by police at close range during a nonviolent Occupy protest last fall will receive a $1 million settlement, they announced Wednesday. The class action lawsuit targeted Chancellor Linda Katehi, UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza, and John Pike – the officer seen using pepper spray and who no longer works at Davis – among other administrators and police. The Davis regents approved the terms Sept. 13 and a federal judge is expected to approve the settlement agreement, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California said in a statement.
The ACLU will also receive $20,000 from the settlement and will work with the university to develop new student demonstration and crowd management policies. And $100,000 will be set aside for students and alumni who were pepper-sprayed or arrested but were not named plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Katehi announced just a couple of days after the Nov. 20 incident that the university would drop all charges against the students who were pepper-sprayed and pay their medical bills. The district attorney’s office in Yolo County last week announced there would be no criminal charges filed against the UC Davis police officers.
