Some justice for Lt. Pike's victims
by David Atkins
The wheels of justice are turning at UC Davis in the wake of the pepper spray incident. First Lt. Pike was placed on administrative leave. And now the victims will be receiving damages:
The University of California will be paying damages to the UC Davis students and alumni who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during an otherwise peaceful protest 10 months ago, officials said Thursday.
The UC regents met in closed session Thursday to discuss and approve a proposed settlement payment to 21 UC Davis students and alumni who have sued the university and contend their civil rights were violated in the incident.
But both UC officials and the ACLU of Northern California, which is representing the students in the lawsuit, refused to divulge details of the settlement, saying the rules of the agreement require a federal judge to review the matter before it can be made public. That may happen within a few days, they said.
UC regent Leslie Tang Schilling said the regents decided to settle the matter because UC needs to move past the pepper-spray controversy and focus on many pressing budgetary issues.
The only unfortunate part of all this is that the money used to pay the victims of this plutocracy-defending thug will come directly out of the funds used to cover tuitions, scholarships and researchers' salaries, rather than out of the pockets of the top %.1 percent whose interests he was serving.
They do live in a different world from you and me, and they'd like to keep it that way--with the help of a few authoritarian friends dishing out their own perverse sense of cosmic justice.
.