10.26.13
Descent Into Barbarism: Civil Rights Crushed and Abusive Police Officer Rewarded With Paid Vacation and Compensation
Summary: Officer John Pike (above) shows that the US system now defends practices such as the above, going even further by mercilessly killing innocent people and never compensating their families
John Pike, the Nazi-looking officer (see his uniform) who famously sprayed students right in their faces (see above video if YouTube does not censor it based on age), is said to have gotten a paid vacation (suspension with salary) and then some compensation [1,2] after this incident. It is utterly disgusting and it’s a spit in the face of these students; it shows that the incident was not the result of some “rotten apple” or some misbehaving officer (or even a bunch of them). The system is actually rewarding these people for such a disgusting behaviour.
According to other interesting reports (mailed to me by relatives in Florida), the US government is now going after investigative reporters using raids [3] and killing grandmothers who mind their own business [4]. No wonder even the drone operators who do this are finding themselves unable to carry on [5].
Those who remain blind to this end of civility unintentionally help normalise such practices, making them be perceived as acceptable (and therefore adequate for more countries to adopt). Freedom and democracy are being sprayed in the face. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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The UC Davis Pepper-Spraying Cop Gets a $38,000 Settlement
Former UC Davis officer John Pike, famous for casually pepper spraying a group of students in the face during a 2011 protest, was awarded a $38,000 settlement for psychiatric injuries for the way he was treated afterwards. Pike, who was eventually fired, filed a workers compensation claim this summer.
That means that Pike, who walked up to a group of sitting, passive students and pepper sprayed their faces, will get a comparable compensation from the university to that awarded to the students he targeted. UC Davis has also settled with the students actually targeted by Pike’s pepper spray, agreeing to pay out $1 million total to 21 plaintiffs. That breaks down to a bit less per student than Pike himself will get: $30,000 per plaintiff, plus a $250,000 sum for their lawyers to split and a handful of other delegated portions of the award. The university also formally apologized as part of the settlement. Pike’s settlement includes $5,700 in legal fees for his lawyer in the case.
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UC Davis pepper-spraying cop gets $38K for disability claim
Former UC Davis police Lt. John Pike has been awarded $38,056 for psychiatric injuries he claimed to have suffered following a 2011 campus pepper-spraying incident that drew worldwide criticism.
The university paid out a total of $1 million to 21 activists who Pike doused with pepper spray as they sat in peaceful protest in the university quad.
Pike, who was later fired, filed a workers’ compensation claim saying he suffered depression and anxiety over the way he was treated in the wake of the incident.
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Exclusive: Feds confiscate investigative reporter’s confidential files during raid
A veteran Washington D.C. investigative journalist says the Department of Homeland Security confiscated a stack of her confidential files during a raid of her home in August — leading her to fear that a number of her sources inside the federal government have now been exposed.
In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter.
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President Obama & Congress: Why was grandmother Mamana Bibi killed with a drone?
Mamana Bibi, a 68-year old grandmother, was killed in October 2012 as she picked vegetables in her family’s fields. The US government has not acknowledged her death nor spoken to her grandchildren, some of whom watched the Hellfire missiles hit their grandmother while standing nearby. Urge President Obama to explain why and on what legal basis Mamana Bibi was killed, and urge Congress to initiate an independent and impartial investigation of her death and all other alleged unlawful killings resulting from US drone strikes.
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Retired US drone operator tells of the turmoil he feels after killing by remote control
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