UC Davis police officials said officers used pepper spray on Occupy protesters on campus Friday after the demonstrators had surrounded officers.
Police said the officers were trying to get out of the protest area when they used the pepper spray.
UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza told reporters Saturday that the decision to use the pepper spray was made at the scene. "The students had encircled the officers," she said. "They needed to exit. They were looking to leave but were unable to get out."
Videos of the event showed a police officer dousing the protesters with a canister of pepper spray as they sat huddled on the ground. The police had been attempting to clear the university's Quad of tents and campers. The videos made it appear the officers were in no immediate danger.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi initially did not criticize the police, but she said Saturday that she had since watched the video and reviewed more accounts from the scene.
"It left me with a very bad feeling of what went on," Katehi said in a telephone interview. "There was enough information to show that we need to take a serious look at what happened."
In a statement on the school's website, she didn't address whether officers had been surrounded:
No comments:
Post a Comment