• Report: Santa Monica campus police faulted for pepper spray use

    By Samantha Tata, NBC Los Angeles

    A Santa Monica College police officer broke policy last year when he used pepper spray on demonstrators trying to enter a board of trustees meeting where officials were set to discuss a controversial tiered payment program, according to an independent review released on Friday.

    The report found that although most campus officers acted with restraint, the use of pepper spray and a raised baton by one officer was inappropriate and did not comply with policy.

    Police did not order students to disperse before using the pepper spray, the Los Angeles Times reports, adding that the probe found students did understand the limits of free-speech rights.

    Read more at NBC Los Angeles

    Some 200 students were involved in the April demonstration, and about 30 people were treated for pepper spray, authorities said at the time. Campus officials said at the time the students’ attempts to get into the boardroom "was a safety issue."

    The melee was exacerbated by inadequate planning by campus police and pushing and grabbing by some student demonstrators voicing their anger over a proposed fee plan that would raise prices on in-demand courses, according to the LA Times.

    The report listed 13 recommendations, including better planning before large gatherings and increased training of campus police.

    This YouTube video shows students at Santa Monica College being pepper-sprayed after storming a Board of Trustees meeting.

     

  • University of California to pay nearly $1 million in deal with 21 pepper-sprayed UC-Davis Occupy protesters

    Brian Nguyen / Reuters file

    A UC-Davis police officer pepper-sprays students during their sit-in at an "Occupy UCD" demonstration in Davis, Calif., in this Nov. 18 file photo.

     

    By NBC News staff and news services

    Updated at 1:42 p.m. ET: The University of California has agreed to pay about $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by UC-Davis students who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during an Occupy-style protest on campus last November.


    The settlement also calls for a personal written apology from UC-Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to each person hit with the spray. 

    UC and plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed the preliminary settlement in federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.

    Under the agreement, which must be approved by a federal judge, the university will pay $30,000 to each of 21 students and former students named in the complaint and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split. 

    The settlement also calls for the UC to set aside $100,000 to pay other individuals who can prove they were arrested or pepper-sprayed during the Nov. 18, 2011, incident.

    Videos and photos taken by witnesses of an officer methodically spraying orange pepper-spray in the faces of nonviolent protesters quickly went viral. Many of the demonstrators were sitting on a campus pathway with arms linked in a protest against tuition hikes and income inequality.

    Police in riot gear pepper-sprayed University of California Davis students, as the young protesters sat arms linked, making no moves. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.

    The outcry led to more campus protests, and some called for Katehi to resign.

    A task force report released in April blamed the incident on poor communication and planning throughout the campus chain of command, from the chancellor to the pepper-spraying officers.

    Read the proposed settlement (.PDF)

    The University of California issued this statement in response to news of the proposed settlement:

    Students at UC-Davis call for the school's chancellor, Linda Katehi, to resign. Nathan Brown, an assistant professor at UC Davis, tells msnbc's Thomas Roberts "the buck stops with the chancellor."

    “The University of California can confirm a preliminary settlement has been reached in the lawsuit regarding the pepper spray incident on the UC Davis quad last November. This settlement, not yet approved by the court, calls for the University of California to pay $30,000 to each of the 21 named plaintiffs and a total of $250,000 to their attorneys. If a federal judge approves the terms, the University also will set aside a maximum of $100,000 to pay up to $20,000 each to individuals who wish to join the class action and can prove they were either arrested or directly pepper-sprayed. Any money paid by UC will come from the university’s General Liability Risk Program, a self-insured fund.”

    Fatima Sbeih, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement the incident created a divide between students and campus police, The Los Angeles Times reported.

    “Since Nov. 18, students have been afraid of the police. The university still needs to work to rebuild students’ trust and this settlement is a step in the right direction,” said Sbeih, who recently graduated with a degree in international studies, according to the Times.

    The UC-Davis police officers who doused the protesters won’t face criminal charges. The Yolo County District Attorney’s office said in a statement last week that there was insufficient evidence to prove the use of force was illegal.

    John Pike, the police lieutenant who was shown in the videos pepper-spraying the protesters, told The Sacramento Bee he was relieved by the DA’s decision.

    Pike was fired on July 31 by the campus police chief who took over the university’s police department after the chief who was in charge last fall, Annette Spicuzza, stepped down under fire.

    NBC News' James Eng and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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  • 100 FedEx employees treated after chili pepper leak

    By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News

    More than 100 FedEx employees at the company's Memphis, Tenn., parcel hub were treated for exposure after a forklift punctured a barrel of concentrated chili peppers used to make pepper spray.


    Memphis Fire Department spokesman Lt. Wayne Cooke told NBC News the five-gallon container was damaged by a FedEx employee outside the building early Thursday, and 117 employees were evaluated and decontaminated by fire rescue personnel.

    Cooke said the fire department initially responded to a hazmat alert, but the situation was not that dire. 

    Most of those affected were treated at the scene, but a 53-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman were taken to the hospital, complaining of chest pains. 

    The peppers in the container are used to make pepper spray. The exposed material, capsaicin, is an irritant that is not fatal, authorities said.

    The substance has been contained and is no longer a threat. 

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Report: UC Davis Police should not have pepper-sprayed protesters

    Video of UC Davis campus police firing an orange stream of pepper spray at apparently peaceful protesters during an Occupy rally sparked nationwide outrage.

    By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com

    A UC Davis task force report released Wednesday strongly condemned a campus officer’s use of pepper spray during an Occupy protest at the university in November, saying that it “should and could have been prevented.”


    The incident took place on Nov. 18, at the height of the Occupy movement that had spread to cities and campuses across the country. On that day, UC Davis campus police were ordered to take apart an encampment set up by protesters at the university.

    Police officers told investigators that they felt trapped by protesters and used pepper spray to break out. In an now-iconic image from the Occupy movement, campus Police Lt. John Pike walked slowly past a line of crouched students, spraying them with a stream of neon-orange pepper spray.

    Photographs and video of the incident went viral and triggered widespread condemnation of the campus police.

    Video spreads of UC Davis cops pepper spraying Occupy students

    The UC Davis report, which accompanies a 150-page assessment by Kroll, a risk management group based in San Diego, found that the officers’ claims that they were trapped was mostly unfounded.

    “On balance, there is little basis supporting Lt. Pike’s belief that he was trapped by the protesters or that his officers were prevented from leaving the Quad,” the report said. “Further, there is little evidence that any protesters attempted to use violence against the police.”

    Read the full report

    The Kroll report added that UC Davis police are not authorized to use such powerful pepper spray, the MK-9.

    “The MK-9 is a higher pressure type of pepper spray than what officers normally carry on their utility belts (MK-4),” the report said.

    Nor was Pike trained in using that type of pepper spray, the report continued. It appeared he sprayed the protesters at closer range than six feet, as advised. (Pike refused to be interviewed for the report and remains on leave, as does the chief of UC Davis campus police.) 

    The task force, headed by retired state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, was commissioned by University of California President Mark G. Yudof. Chancellor Linda Katehi, who heads UC Davis, had asked the president to put together the task force after she came under fire for the pepper spray incident.

    The report criticizes Katehi, however, for being vague in her instructions to campus police before they went to take down the encampment.

    “The only message communicated to the police was the ambiguous suggestion that the Chancellor and the Provost did not want the police operation ‘to be like Berkeley,’” the report said. At the UC Berkeley campus, police had beaten Occupy protesters with batons.

    Video: Occupy movement takes violent turn at Berkeley

    The Kroll and Reynoso reports were not released until Wednesday because the police union said that some parts would violate privacy rules, the Los Angeles Times reported. The newspaper reported that Pike has received death threats and that pranksters have orders pizzas to be delivered to his home.

    In conclusion, the task force recommended that the University of California evaluate its police forces “to ensure that they reflect the distinct needs of a university community.”

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  • After pepper-spraying incident, Santa Monica College backs off fee hike

    Michael Yanow / Getty Images Contributor

    Nnaemeka Alozie is hosed off after suffering the effects of pepper spray outside the SMC Board of Trustees meeting at Santa Monica College on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif.

    By NBCLosAngeles.com

    Santa Monica College trustees voted Friday to postpone a fee hike that prompted a student protest and pepper-spraying incident earlier this week.


    The California community colleges chancellor had requested that the school delay a program that would raise tuition for summer classes to make up for cuts in state funding that have impacted public colleges across California.

    College President Chui Tsang at an emergency meeting recommended to the Board of Trustees that the program be postponed. Students, who filled the meeting room Friday, applauded that recommendation.

    Trustees voted 8-0 to postpone the program, saying they wanted more input from college teachers and students.

    The meeting was held in a larger venue than the board normally uses to accommodate the crowd. At Tuesday’s regular meeting, about 30 students who tried to get into a packed board meeting were pepper-sprayed by campus police.

    Some students staged a protest march on campus Thursday. Tsang said at the Friday meeting that the pepper-spray incident was "regrettable" and that an internal investigation had been launched.

    On Wednesday, California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott asked Tsang to put the controversial summer-course program on hold.

    Earlier this week, Tsang said the pilot program, approved in March, would offer about 50 extra "self-funded" classes this summer at the college's "actual cost" of $180 per credit unit, compared to state-subsidized classes that cost $46 per credit unit for California residents.

    “SMC's cost is far below the tuition rate at the state's other public educational systems,” Tsang said. “The college's action comes at a time when SMC is confronted with the greatest budget crisis ever to face higher education in California.”

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  • 30 people pepper-sprayed at Santa Monica College course fees protest

    Up to 30 people were pepper-sprayed Tuesday by police after students tried to storm a Santa Monica College trustee board meeting in protest over proposed higher course fees. KNBC-TV's Robert Kovacik reports.

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    Up to 30 people were pepper-sprayed by police after students tried to storm a Santa Monica College trustee board meeting in protest over proposed higher course fees.

    A handful of protesters suffered minor injuries as campus police tried to prevent dozens of students chanting, "Let us in, let us in" and "No cuts, no fees, education should be free," from disrupting the meeting during a public comment period, the Los Angeles Times reported.

    Capt. Judah Mitchell of the Santa Monica Fire Department told NBC News that up to 30 people had been sprayed, five of whom sought treatment for the effects of the spray and were transported to nearby hospitals.

    Priscillia Omon, 21, claimed a police officer fired the spray into the mouths and eyes of people standing arm's length away, NBC Los Angeles reported. She said a family, including a 4 year old, were in the crowd when the officer used the pepper spray.

    PhotoBlog: Cops pepper-spray 30 as Santa Monica students protest fees

    "They were trying to silence our voices by not allowing students access to this supposedly open forum," Omon told the station.

    However, Mitchell said a mother and young child were not among those treated for the effects of pepper spray.

    'Students care about their education'
    The meeting was slated to discuss a controversial tiered payment program, which has drawn the ire of students and professors claiming that the plan would make in-demand summer classes -- such as English, math, history and biology -- more expensive.

    NBC Los Angeles said some courses would rise from $46 per unit to $180 during the summer session, meaning a high-demand 3-unit course would cost about $540.

    "The students wanted to be heard and we wanted to be in the room where we could fairly discuss this topic, and be seen by them," said Aura Chavez, 18, who was standing in the back of the crowd when the pepper spray incident happened. "We wanted to let them see how many students care about their education."

    Bruce Smith, spokesman for Santa Monica College, said the school had set up an overflow room with an audio visual feed so students could take part in the meeting, but a fairly large group of students showed up in the corridor and demanded to go into the meeting room.

    He added that the college and Santa Monica College Police Department will be investigating the incident.

    Samantha Tata and Robert Kovacik of NBC Los Angeles and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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  • California shoppers pepper sprayed in purse section

    By NBC News and news services

    WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Holiday shoppers pepper sprayed by a purse thief managed to subdue the parolee running from a Walnut Creek department store with $10,000 worth of handbags.

    Walnut Creek police said Bryan Black, 42, and a female accomplice snatched 17 high-end purses at a Nordstrom store Saturday night and ran for a getaway car.

    Lt. Steve Gorski said the woman escaped with a couple of purses. But Black, an Oakland parolee armed with a knife, was grabbed by a shopper and tackled by another. Black showered the shoppers with pepper spray, but they managed to hang on until police arrived, investigators said.

    Black was booked for investigation of robbery, burglary, assault and possession of stolen property.

    The incident happened 10 days after a woman spewed pepper spray on a crowd of Black Friday shoppers at a Wal-Mart store in the San Fernando Valley.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report by NBC station KSBW of Santa Barabara, Calif.

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  • Charges possible in LA Walmart pepper spraying

    Los Angeles police Detective Lt. Tim Torsney provides details of the investigation.

    By msnbc.com staff

    Police may seek charges against the woman whose use of pepper spray in a scrum with bargain seekers at a Los Angeles Walmart became a national talking point.

    Los Angeles police Detective Lt. Tim Torsney told reporters late Monday afternoon that the 32-year-old woman, whose name hasn't been released, was a suspect in the "unlawful use of O.C. spray." 

    "O.C." stands for oleoresin capsicum, an extract of superhot chili peppers. Its use in spray form as a crowd-control agent has focused attention on police response to Occupy Wall Street protests in several U.S. cities.

    The incident seized public attention and held it through the weekend as a symbol of the annual post-Thanksgiving consumer frenzy that traditionally opens the Christmas shopping season.

    Describing a "chaotic situation," Torsney said, "We need to do something better as a society to control ourselves."

    The incident occurred just after 10 p.m. Thursday at an early Black Friday sale at a Walmart in Porter Ranch in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. Fourteen people have come forward who either were directly sprayed or were exposed to the stinging chemical, and as many as 10 others may have been exposed, Torsney said.

    Torsney said police would forward the case to the district attorney for possible charges against the woman, who turned herself in Friday night. She refused to answer questions and was released. 

    "If you use O.C. spray for anything other than self-defense, it could be a felony or it could be a misdemeanor, depending on the circumstances," Torsney said. 

    That decision is up to the district attorney, he said, but the key determiner is "the suspect's state of mind at the time the incident took place."

    Detective Michael Fesperman said at the news conference that two separate groups of shoppers were trying to get to a pallet of Xbox games. The suspect may have gotten caught up in the melee and may not have meant to use the spray as a weapon, he said.

    "This may have been a case of self-preservation," he said.

  • Police mull charges in Walmart pepper spray case

    By msnbc.com staff and wires

    Los Angeles police are still deciding whether to pursue charges against a woman who allegedly used pepper spray while shopping at a Walmart Thanksgiving night in Porter Ranch, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

    "We have a ton of witnesses and victims to interview," Los Angeles Police Officer Bruce Borihanh told the newspaper. "We know who she is."

    The woman turned herself in Friday night after the incident allegedly caused minor injuries to 20 shoppers, including children.  She was released pending further investigation after she refused to discuss the incident, police said Saturday.

    The woman's identity was not released. 

    The alleged attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday, shortly after doors opened for shopping. Employees brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd formed to wait for the unwrapping. Valle said the woman began spraying people in order to get an advantage.

    Wal-Mart officials called it "an unfortunate situation."

     

  • Alleged pepper-spraying Walmart shopper surrenders

    The traditional start of the holiday gift shopping frenzy known as Black Friday was welcomed by retailers, but there were reports of scuffles, fist-fits and even gunfire as bargain hunters clashed. NBC News' Kristen Dahlgren reports.

    By msnbc.com wire reports

    A shopper who allegedly fired pepper spray at other customers during a Black Friday sale for Xbox video games has surrendered to authorities, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

    Police Sgt. Jose Valle told the Associated Press that the woman who allegedly caused minor injuries to 20 shoppers, including children, at a Los Angeles-area Walmart had turned herself in Friday night.

    She was released pending further investigation after she refused to discuss the incident, police said Saturday.

    The woman's identity was not released. 

    The alleged attack took place about 10:20 p.m. Thursday, shortly after doors opened for the sale. Employees brought out a crate of discounted Xbox video game players, and a crowd formed to wait for the unwrapping. Valle said the woman began spraying people in order to get an advantage.

    Wal-Mart officials called it "an unfortunate situation."

    "We're glad everyone seems to be OK," Wal-Mart said in a statement. The company pledge to assist authorities with the their investigation.

    The incident was among those nationwide in which violence marred the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season on the Friday after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.

    Walmart seemed to have a worse day than many other retailers as shoppers screamed, shoved and elbowed each other to save a few bucks.

    Incidents across the country included a man shot by robbers in the parking lot outside a San Leandro, Calif., store and shoppers pepper sprayed by security at a store in Kinston, N.C.

    A fight for bath towels, purportedly recorded at a Michigan store, has become a YouTube sensation. Cheap towels also caused mayhem at a Walmart in Oregon, Ohio.

    "They were fighting over bath towels on sale for $1.88, as ridiculous as that sounds," Police Sergeant Jason Druckenmiller told Reuters. "A woman tried to get her hands on some towels when she was pushed from behind, and that's when she came out swinging."

  • Off-duty police pepper spray NC shoppers

    A video posted on YouTube depicts the incident in which security used pepper spray on shoppers in Kinston, N.C.

    By msnbc.com staff and NBC News
    Updated 4:55 p.m. ET: Kinston police are disputing accounts of the incident, telling NBC News that they fired a single "puff" of pepper spray when a large group of people tried to grab products before Walmart employees were finished putting the items on display.

    An officer sprayed "a puff" of pepper spray in the air to have the crowd "regain composure," police said. They told NBC News that  none of the substance was sprayed into anyone's eyes or face and that no one requested medical attention.

    Police confirmed that one man was arrested but wouldn't confirm his identity as reported in local news accounts.

    Updated 3:25 p.m. ET: An off-duty police officer used pepper spray Friday on shoppers at a Walmart in Kinston, N.C., NBC station WITN of Washington, N.C., reported.

    Kinston police Sgt. Roland Davis said an off-duty officer the store had hired to help with security during Black Friday shopping used the chemical while trying to make an arrest during a disturbance.

    Angel Bunting, who was shopping at the store, said a man fell into a display as people lined up for discounted cell phones. She said she believed it was an accident but security thought there was a fight.

    About 20 people, including children, were affected by the pepper spray, she alleged, but that couldn't be confirmed.

    In a video of the even posted on YouTube, which you can watch above, people are seen covering their noses and mouths before police handcuff a man.

    Police arrested a 58-year-old man who they said failed to follow their instructions. The man, perhaps ironically, is a former Kinston police officer, CBS station WNCT reported.

    "He was raining it over the whole crowd, so it will rain down on their heads," the man told the station. "Some of it got my granddaughter in her face and eyes, and she had to go the emergency room because she's asthmatic."

    A full roundup of Black Friday violence is here.

  • Seattle 'superhero' who pepper-sprayed group avoids charges

    By msnbc.com staff

    Updated at 1:20 a.m. EST Thursday

    Officials in Seattle have decided not to press charges against self-proclaimed superhero Phoenix Jones, accused of assault after pepper-spraying a group he said was fighting outside a nightclub. The city attorney, however, called his actions "misguided."

    Jones said late Wednesday in a Facebook posting that he was not surprised there would be no charges, as he claimed he committed no crime, but he took umbrage with the Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes' statement.

    Jones, whose real name is Ben Fodor, wears a black mask with yellow stripes and a bulging muscle bodysuit. The city patroller, age 23, was arrested Oct. 9 on four counts of assault. He spent about 7 hours in jail before posting $3,800 bail, but subsequently lost his day job teaching autistic kids.

    Holmes said that his office can't locate two of the people who were pepper sprayed, so it would be difficult to convince a jury that Fodor intentionally sprayed everyone at the scene.

    Holmes says the case was complicated by Fodor's explanation, because state law lets a person use force when he or she reasonably believes someone is about to be injured.

    "However," Holmes emphasized in a statement issued by his office, "Mr. Fodor is no hero, just a deeply misguided individual. He has been warned that his actions put himself in danger, and this latest episode demonstrates that innocent bystanders can also be harmed."

    "Looking ahead," Holmes continued, "I ask our Legislature to prohibit individuals from carrying the large quantity of pepper spray employed by Mr. Fodor—far more than can be justified solely for self-defense purposes. Finally, I urge Mr. Fodor to consult legal counsel regarding his own potential personal civil liability if he persists with his vigilante alter ego. Our state’s Good Samaritan statutes are designed to protect individuals who happen upon — rather than actively seek out — opportunities to render assistance to others, without expectation of compensation. These laws are not designed to protect a branded, costumed character, his roving video crew, or their copyrighted videos from the reach of tort plaintiffs."

    Seattle Police Chief John Diaz added, "Our position has been very consistent and clear on this. Too often situations are made worse when someone inserts themselves into a volatile situation unnecessarily. Call 911, be a good witness, and let the officers handle the situation."

    Jones responded: "Would a 'guided' person just keep walking and allow someone to be kicked repeatedly in the head?"

    He also took on Holmes' urging of pepper spray legislation.

    "Pepper spray is defined as a self defense tool and is very hard to use offensively, however we have seen a lot of that on the news here in Seattle," Jones said, apparently referring to the eviction of Occupy Seattle protesters, including an elderly woman who was pepper-sprayed by police. "I hope somewhere in that law there is more protection for the elderly, and peaceful protesters."

    He also denied he was a vigilante and agreed crime witnesses should call 911.

    "I think my arrest and de-masking was more of an attempt to get me to stop patrolling than to actively seek justice," Jones said. "I want everyone to know that I have no intention of stopping."

    Earlier article looking at superheroes: 'Costumed crusaders taking it to the streets'

     

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