Embattled University of California, Davis, Chancellor Linda Katehi told a group of 1,000 students she explicitly told police to use no force in removing both tents and students from an Occupy Wall Street protest that last Friday garnered national attention after police were filmed attacking a dozen unarmed and seated, nonviolent students with pepper spray.
“I explicitly directed the chief of police that violence should be avoided at all costs. It was absolutely the last thing I ever wanted to happen,” UC Davis chief Katehi told students, according to a report today in the Christian Science Monitor.
But Katehi initially defended police actions, which landed at least one student in the hospital after police forceably sprayed pepper spray, a chemical weapon also known as capsium, down several students’ throats.
Katehi later issued another statement calling the police actions “chilling,” and placed on paid administrative leave two of the police officers, including Lt. John Pike, the man who made worldwide headlines for his cavalier attack on students.
Later, Chancellor Katehi also suspended the Chief of Police, and ordered an independent investigation into the police’s paramilitary attack.
Katehi herself has apologized although denied any personal responsibility, despite passionate and well-constructed calls for her resignation from faculty individuals and groups.
Reports now reveal that Lt. Puke was the involved in an anti-gay sexual and racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the UC Davis Police Department.
In other reports, The New Civil Rights Movement have debunked police statements that they had no choice but to use force because students were detaining or surrounding them.