The Pepper Spray Man - *UPDATE*

[Jiro]

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

“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.”

 

[Jiro]

Sacto 9-1-1: UC pepper-spray settlement about $1 million

The settlement agreement notes that the regents are not conceding wrongdoing in the incident and that the defendants "acted reasonably and with good intentions."

The agreement allows students hit with the pepper spray to receive assistance and counseling for "academic performance issues that allegedly arose" from the incident.

The deal also allots $20,000 to the ACLU for legal fees to review and provide input on UC-Davis policies on handling demonstrations.

The settlement stems from a Nov. 18 protest at which students had gathered to demonstrate against rising tuition costs and reduced services. Campus police moved in to oust students who were camping on the Quad and, after a series of warnings, used pepper spray on the protesters.

The settlement brings the total payout for the pepper spray incident to well over $2 million so far.

Documents released to The Bee by UC officials Tuesday in response to a Public Records Act request filed in July give the most detailed figures yet for costs associated with the incident, including:

-- $320,000 paid to the Munger, Tolles & Olson law firm in San Francisco for work on a systemwide review of how UC campuses should respond to protests.

-- $88,686 paid in salaries and other fees to UC Berkeley officials who worked on that review.

-- $119,714 paid to Marsh Risk and Insurance Services of San Francisco to provide "real time crisis management support for UC Davis."

-- and $445,879 paid to investigators for the Kroll consulting firm that conducted an investigation into the pepper spray incident for an independent panel headed by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso.

Kroll's billing included more than $10,707 in air fare, $3,181 in ground transportation and $8,800 in hotel charges.

Another $230,256 was paid out for an internal affairs investigation into the actions of Lt. John Pike, one of two officers who deployed the pepper spray. Pike ultimately was fired by UC Davis.

These amounts do not include various other salary figures and legal fees associated with the protest and its messy aftermath.