Boingboing.net interviewed one of the students (who wishes to remain anonymous) who got pepper-sprayed by Lt. John Pike at UC Davis two nights ago. In a bizarre and, well, twisted, twist, it turns out
Pike knew the students by name from Thursday night when they "occupied" a campus plaza. The students offered Pike food and coffee and chatted with him and other officers while setting up tents...
But one day later, the offerings were forgotten.
"Move or we're going to shoot you," Pike is reported to have yelled at one student right before delivering pepper spray. Then, turning to his fellow officers and brandishing the can in the air, "Don't worry, I'm going to spray these kids down."
I had a wonderful conversation with Lieutenant Pike that night. I dialogued with him for a while. He was cordial to me. He knew me by name. We offered him coffee and food.
Below are two excerpts from the interview.
Permanent Nerve Damage?
XJ: So, we see in the videos and photos that you were one of the students pepper-sprayed by Lieutenant John Pike yesterday. How are you doing today?
W: I still have a burning sensation in my throat, lips and nose, especially when I start coughing, or when I'm lying in bed. Everyone who got sprayed has sustained effects like this...
He used military grade pepper spray on us. It's supposed to be used at a minimum of 15 feet. But he sprayed us at point blank range. Another student, 20 years old, who was sprayed and then arrested -- instead of receiving medical care for the pepper spray exposure, he was made to wait in the back of a police car. His hands were sprayed, and he had intense burning in his hands throughout the evening while he was being held. He asked a police officer what they could do to stop it, and they refused to give any advice...
And with no warning, moving incredibly violently, they seized a few students.
They handcuffed the students so tightly. One kid, later on they were unable to cut off his ties, they'd been tied so tight. One of the other students couldn't feel his hands they were so purple, his circulation was cut off so badly for so long. He took himself to the hospital after he was released from the zip-tie restraints. They told him he had nerve damage and not to expect to be able to feel his hands for the next week. He has to come back next week to see if there was permanent nerve damage in his wrists...
Pike turned around and I am told that he said to the other officers, "Don't worry about it, I'm going to spray these kids down."
He lifts the can, spins it around in a circle to show it off to everybody.
Then he sprays us three times.
As if one time of being sprayed at point blank wasn't enough.
I was on the end of the line getting direct spray. When the second pass came, I got up crawling. I crawled away and vomited on a tree. I was yelling. It burned. Within a few minutes I was dry heaving, I couldn't breathe. Then, over the course of the next hour, I was dry heaving and vomiting.
A Large Rally is Planned at UC Davis on Monday
XJ: Chancellor Katehi finally gave a press conference tonight about that incident.
W: I was the first one there. I went right up to her and introduced myself. "I'm an undergrad here. I'm a victim of police brutality," I told her. "The police sprayed pepper spray down my throat. I do not feel you have done your job protecting me on your campus. I hold you personally responsible for inflicting pain on me."
XJ: What do you want from Katehi, and the UC system?
W: I can't speak on behalf of the movement, I can only speak on behalf of myself. But I personally request that Chancellor Katehi and Lt. John Pike resign. We have a petition out there already. I request that a mechanism be set up for the impeachment of chancellors, and a system for democratic election of our chancellors. There is no good reason why students and faculty don't make that decision. Even when a chancellor makes a decision likes this, they feel safe, because they've been appointed by the regents, and the goal of the regents is to make more money. They sit on the boards of big institutions like Bank of America, they are the richest of the 1%, and they're using this institution to fatten their pockets and they're putting students into debt to do that.
There will be a large rally on Monday at UC Davis, and I invited her to take part in our GA, if she's willing to speak to us on our terms and operate on consensus method with no power dynamics.
She made a promise right there, on video, to come to our meeting.
I think she has done a terrible misdeed and that she and Pike should resign immediately so we can figure out a better way to run this institution.
Read the full interview for more on the relationship between Lt. Pike and the students he pepper-sprayed.
Breaking: Not quite sure what is going on here, there's no sourcing, but this could get even more interesting, not to mention disgusting. Xeni Jardin is the interviewer from the quoted interview.
xeni Xeni Jardin
#UCDavis: first, we pepper spray you, then, we punish you for telling the world about it in brave acts of online student journalism.
23 minutes ago
Retweeted by susie_c
xeni Xeni Jardin
This student was going to write a post for @boingboing, & did incredible journalism on the ground at #UCDavis incidents. Now, punishment.
23 minutes ago
Retweeted by susie_c
»
xeni Xeni Jardin
One of the brave #UCDavis student journalists who covered the pepper-spraying and "Walk of Shame" is now facing punitive action by UCD.
Are You Angry Enough Yet?
Sign the petition calling for Katehi's resignation
2:47 PM PT: Ah, an explanation from Xeni.
xeni Xeni Jardin
Many asking what "links" I have for earlier tweets re: #UCDavis student facing punitive action over reports. None: Private convo with source
3:01 PM PT: Petition signatures about to hit 30,000
3:16 PM PT: 30,600+. Will it hit 35,000 today?
3:19 PM PT:
Friday’s punitive violence, as terrible as it was, is not an example of bad policing. It is an example of policing.
We’ve seen this kind of violence used before on California campuses, and not just in response to the anti-privatization protests and occupations of the past two years. We’re seeing it used now to suppress dissent in cities across the world, from Oakland to Cairo.
When UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza says she is “very proud” of her officers, who “did a great job,” she is convinced that this is true. It’s not simply a public relations strategy, it’s a reflection of the fact that her officers did what cops are expected to do: employ violence against those who challenge authority.
This is why we do not demand the dismissal of Lt. John Pike, although it would be welcome.
Our demand is COPS OFF CAMPUS. Period.
The entire manifesto
3:31 PM PT: Will it hit 35K today? At this rate -- hell yeah! Now 31500+
3:40 PM PT: @32,000+. Something like 2500/hr at this rate.
4:02 PM PT: 33,300+
4:20 PM PT:
davidkozin David S. Kozin
@xeni pls RT #Occupy is an ineffective & meaningless method for change. Just look how ineffective Rosa Parks occupying a bus seat was. #OWS
4:30 PM PT: And 35000 it is!!
8:42 PM PT: 44000+