• 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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  • Cops: California professor plotted high school attack

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    By Jason Kandel and Melissa Pamer, NBCLosAngeles.com

    An associate professor at the University of California at Irvine has been arrested in connection with a plot to burn down his son’s former high school and kill students and administrators.


    Rainer Klaus Reinscheid, 48, a 10-year associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at UCI, was arrested July 27 after police discovered emails detailing the plan, police said.

    Reinscheid allegedly hatched the plot in March, after his 14-year-old son, a University High School student, committed suicide by hanging, police said. 

    For more, visit NBCLosAngeles.com

    School officials confirmed the teen's suicide followed his being disciplined for stealing, but students at University High School say they doubt the discipline made their classmate suicidal.

    One student speculated the teen's suicide was related to bullying. Another student described Reinscheid's son as "always alone."

    The teen's body was found at Mason Park Preserve in Irvine, police said. Reinscheid allegedly set several fires in the area after that.

    Reinscheid's arraignment in Santa Ana Superior Court was postponed Tuesday until Aug. 8. 

    He has been charged with two felony counts of arson of another's property, two felony counts of arson of a structure, one felony count of arson of an inhabited residence, one felony count of attempted arson, and one misdemeanor count of resisting or obstructing an officer, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

    If convicted, Reinscheid faces up to sentence of 12 years and eight months in state prison.

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    Police said Reinscheid lighted up to five fires -- including at Mason Park Preserve -- between July 4 and July 24.

    Reinscheid was arrested on July 24 at Mason Park Preserve where police said they saw him allegedly lighting newspapers on fire with lighter fluid. He was released on bail as police continued their investigation.

    On July 27, detectives discovered e-mails on the defendant’s cell phone that they said described in detail his plan to burn down University High School, commit sexual assaults, purchase firearms and kill school officials and students, before killing himself.

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    Once the emails were discovered, Reinscheid was re-arrested, police said.

    UCI declined to comment, only confirming Reinscheid's employment at the campus. The university referred calls to the Irvine Police Department.

    Reinshceid earned his Ph.D. from the Center for Molecular Neurobiology at Hamburg, Germany, in 1993, according to his profile at the University of California, Irvine.

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