Was it about teaching a lesson?
If readers will go online and take another look at video footage of the pepper-spraying incident, they may notice one small detail, about which I have seen no comment so far. Immediately prior to initiating his now-world-famous tactical action, Lt. John Pike did something quite extraordinary: He broke through the protesters’ “blockade” of the police without the use of his pepper spray.
How did he accomplish his extraordinary feat of military maneuvering (without resorting to high-tech weapons)? He simply stepped over the protesters. Take a look. It is right there on the videos.
Perhaps he believed his fellow officers, still surrounded by protesters he just had stepped over, did not possess the agility to follow him. So the only solution was to pepper-spray a gap for the less agile officers.
Or perhaps the pepper spray was indeed simply used to teach a lesson to those who would resist the legal (moral?) authority of the university (a lesson that many hostile critics of the protest have suggested was warranted and justified).
After all, teaching lessons to students is what chancellors and faculty are hired to do.
Richard Seyman
Davis
Short URL: http://www.davisenterprise.com/?p=120294
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Posted by Letters to the Editor
on Dec 28 2011.
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Lt. Pike is a really terrible teacher.
The worst. and more
Yes. And soon enough, he’ll get “tenure.” He’ll get paid out for a lifetime to keep quiet about where the directives came from. And we’ll get to pay for it.
I urge the Davis Enterprise’ intrepid reporters to ask Pike and the other UCD police if anyone from the US government authorized them to use pepper spray or any other kind of force on the protesters.
Also, they said police were there to remove the tents, but when the swat team came they said “You are participating in an unlawful assembly. Move or force will be used against you.” Nothing about tents… and the tents were the only “illegal” part of the gathering. This administration is SO corrupt!