John Pike, UC Davis Cop Who Pepper-Sprayed Seated Campus Protesters, Receives $38K Work Comp Settlement By Lonce LaMon - October 25, 2013
Yesterday, news sources confirmed that John Pike, the University of California at Davis police officer who was fired after pepper-spraying seated protesters at a November 18th 2011 campus demonstration, will receive a $38,000 workers’ compensation claim settlement from the University of California.
John Pike sought workers’ compensation benefits alleging psychiatric and nervous system injury after a video of him pepper-spraying the seated protestors went viral after it hit news stations and the Internet. As a result of this nationwide news coverage, Pike received death threats against himself and his family while he was widely criticized across the Internet in an outcry of public outrage, which included vociferous clamor from faculty and activists.
The protesters came to symbolize law enforcement aggression against anti-Wall Street protesters.
Last month, on or about September 27th, University of California officials agreed to pay one million dollars to settle the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the 21 plaintiffs in the case. The settlement included $250,000 for plaintiffs’ attorney fees, $30,000 for each plaintiff, and a personal apology from UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.
One undergraduate student stated, “I was demonstrating because of rising tuition hikes and privatization of the university. Then we faced police brutality in response. I felt like the university silenced me. I want the university and the police to understand what they did wrong.”
The pepper-sprayed student-plaintiffs reported trauma, panic attacks, and falling grades after the incident. The university replaced the campus chief-of-police while the quiet campus was thrust into the limelight of national anti-Wall Street protests.
John Pike’s workers’ comp case was closed as of October 16th, according to information found on the California Division of Workers’ Compensation website, and as reported by Business Insurance magazine yesterday afternoon. Back in August, a Workers’ Compensation Judge (WCJ) ordered a disability rater to evaluate the awarding of benefits. The university then stated that it expected, in accordance with the board rating, that John Pike would receive some financial compensation.
Copyright adjustercom; all rights reserved. Journalist Lonce LaMon: lonce@adjustercom.com
Adjuster / Examiner Claims Examiner Santa Ana Unified School District Santa Ana, CA
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