$1 Million Settlement Reached In UC-Davis Pepper Spray Incident
| October 15th, 2012
October 15, 2012 A settlement has been reached between the University of California-Davis and 21 protesters who were injured last year as the result of excessive force used by campus police. According to The Wall Street Journal, the group of plaintiffs will each receive $30,000 from a total $1 million award. The incident occurred on November 18, 2011, at the site of a protest for the occupy movement on the campus of the school. When protesters refused to move and sat peacefully with their arms entwined together, campus police approached the group and began to spray individuals in the face with commercial-grade pepper spray, leaving many with chemical burn injuries. Video of the incident soon went viral and numerous complaints were filed, saying the school and police not only used excessive force that resulted in personal injury, but also should have been protecting the students from such injuries. Other stipulations of the settlement include $20,000 for the American Civil Liberties Union, who represented the protesters to continue their work in the field of free speech and monitoring protest regulations and policies. Also, the University will set aside $100,000 for anyone else who can prove they were injured or arrested at the protest that day. The California Personal Injury Lawyers with Berg Injury Lawyers understand the emotional and physical trauma such incidents can cause and hope the settlement will bring some sense of closure to the victims.
