UC Davis students who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during a sit-down Occupy protest sued the officers and university administrators in federal court Wednesday, claiming excessive force and suppression of free speech.
The Nov. 18 demonstration became a rallying image for the Occupy movement around the country after a video showed UC Davis officers, one identified as Lt. John Pike, dispassionately spraying the stinging chemical into the eyes of seated students at close range.
Pike, another officer and campus Police Chief Annette Spicuzza have been suspended with pay while the university investigates the incident.
“When the cost of speech is a shot of blinding, burning pepper spray in the face, speech is not free,” Michael Risher, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, said Wednesday.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento by 17 students and two graduates who took part in the demonstration, which was organized by Occupy UC Davis. Twelve said they were pepper-sprayed, and eight claimed illegal arrests.
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