Report: UC pepper spraying could have been prevented UC Davis police conduct faulted in panel's report

An unidentified man turns away from the task force panel to view the public speakers who spoke out during a public meeting at UC Davis after the University of California released the long-awaited report on the pepper spraying of students during an Occupy UC Davis demonstration Nov. 18, 2011. Photo taken Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at UC Davis. less An unidentified man turns away from the task force panel to view the public speakers who spoke out during a public meeting at UC Davis after the University of California released the long-awaited report on the ... more Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Report: UC pepper spraying could have been prevented 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The infamous pepper spraying of UC Davis student protesters by University of California police in November "should and could have been prevented," says a new report that strongly criticizes campus and police handling of the incident.

The decision to use the chemical irritant was neither justified by events on campus nor authorized by policy, says the long-awaited report, released Wednesday.

The study sheds light on what led UC police officers to coat about 20 protesters with pepper spray as the group sat huddled in a line the afternoon of Nov. 18.

The students, protesting rising tuition, were surrounded by other students who booed and screamed as the spraying began. Video of the spraying went viral, sparking international condemnation and threats against at least one officer.

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Former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso led the 12-member task force that produced the report. On Wednesday, they hosted a forum at UC Davis, webcast live, to discuss their findings and answer questions.

"The conduct of the police had serious faults," Reynoso told the audience of students, faculty and community members. "Police said they were scared because they were surrounded. But the tapes show they were not completely surrounded. Objectively speaking, there was no basis for them to do what they did."

Police overhaul

The report concludes that UC Davis police failed to use standard procedures in planning for the protest, and recommends a top-to-bottom overhaul of the entire UC police force.

The 190-page report describes a campus administration that Nov. 18 was nervous about the growing Occupy movement and the possibility that nonstudent protesters would flood onto the Davis campus.

But the influx of outsiders never materialized, according to the report, and it was largely students who erected tents on campus that day.

Administrators then deployed police to remove the tents without considering alternative approaches, the report found, noting that even a delay of a few days would have given them time to think, negotiate and decide how best to defuse the situation.

"The Task Force concludes that there was no immediate need to order the police to take down the tents," the report says.

It faults poor communication between administrators and police, no clear lines of decision-making and confusion about the legal basis for the police operation, including failure of police to answer the protesters' questions about why force was being used.

The task force included two undergraduate students, two graduate students, two professors, four administrators, a legal mediator and a Yolo County administrator.

Kroll Consulting, which specializes in police procedures, interviewed officers and reviewed policies. Its investigators were unable to interview a key figure, Lt. John Pike, who is seen on videos wielding a can of orange pepper spray for about 15 seconds. He can't discuss the incident because the district attorney is considering prosecuting him and others, said Pike's attorney, John Bakhit. Pike has had to change his phone number and e-mail address and live in various locations because of harassing calls and messages.

A key question

In December, after being placed on paid leave, he submitted a police report that Kroll investigators studied. They wrote that they were still left with one "obvious question: Why did Lieutenant Pike deploy pepper spray?"

In interviews with officers the investigators learned that they "felt that they were surrounded by a hostile mob and that the use of pepper spray was necessary to create a path for the officers and arrestees to leave the Quad.

"While there is some support for this conclusion, a detailed review of the objective evidence undermines this conclusion."

Eleven protesters were treated for the effects of pepper spray and two were taken to the hospital.

Student demands

Geoffrey Wildanger, a graduate student in art history, was among those hit by pepper spray. He was at Wednesday's forum and demanded "a new administration and for the UC police to leave immediately."

His remarks won applause. Some in the audience had been among hundreds calling for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi in November. She has publicly apologized for the pepper-spraying, but did not show up Wednesday.

"She's not even here today!" cried Sophia Kamran, a philosophy major also hit with pepper spray. "What's going on?"

In a written statement, Katehi said she and campus leaders will study the report's recommendations "and develop a detailed response and action plan."

Reynoso, asked about Katehi's level of responsibility in the incident, said she had misjudged the situation but shared fault with those who allowed mistakes to go forward without raising objections.

No UC police officers participated in the hearing. But their attorney later called the task force findings "irresponsible" because investigators, who were unable to talk with Pike, "didn't know his state of mind."

Bakhit also defended the use of pepper spray, saying, "Some type of force was necessary. More injuries would have occurred had they not used it."

Task force members emphasized that use of force is not necessary on campus.

"Some have asked us if we thought it would be better to use pepper spray than batons," said Alan Brownstein, a UC Davis law professor on the task force. "We want to develop a community where the police don't use either."

Everyone applauded.