Police who sprayed seated students with pepper spray granted paid vacation
“Administrative leave with full pay and benefits”: that’s a punishment?? And the Chancellor, who says she “takes full responsibility” also put the chief of campus police on leave while the chief, Annette Spicuzza, apparently continues to maintain that the police were surrounded, trapped, and threatened, a claim completely at variance with what we see in the video. In other words, Chief Spicuzza simply lied.
And Chancellor Katechi is lying as well, when she says she “takes full responsibility” for what was done under her authority, but refuses to resign. Instead, she’s granting paid leave to those under her command while hanging on to her post. The phrase “I take full responsibility” seems now to be totally empty, devoid of meaning. It’s said to placate people, in hopes that they will now go away. If she took full responsibiity, she would resign after an abject apology and an admission of failure of leadership. She should have been there talking with the students instead of hiding in her office and sending out the cops to mace the seated, non-violent protestors.
As James Fallows points out in his blog today, the video has gone global and the Chinese government is making much of “how the US police treat citizens.” This is laughable coming from the Chinese, but the video is vivid. And the Chancellor is keeping her job.
Here’s the NY Times story of the Chancellor evading responsibility. The comments are interesting.
UPDATE: In the comments to the NY Times story, I draw your attention to the (quite valid) point that the police, in using tear gas and pepper spray and rubber bullets and clubs/truncheons/batons (hard enough to break ribs) and other such apparatus, are doling out punishment on the spot: physical punishment, sometimes brutal. The police have somehow been given the power to dispense such summary punishments at will, which very much makes a mockery of the First Amendment, as the commenters point out. The idea of the Constitution is that citizens may be arrested and tried, not that they been beaten on the spot. That’s NOT the idea, and the notion that it is now lawful in the US for the police to beat citizens for simply gathering in peaceful protest shows just how far into a police state we have moved.
It’s not punishment, because there hasn’t been a hearing yet. As much as I’d like to see the officers involved dipped in honey and thrown, hog-tied, to the fire ants, punishing them now on the (albeit perfectly reasonable) assumption that they’ll be found to have committed a punishable offense isn’t how we ought to do things. I am, however, in favor of the eventual punishment including a provision that they have to pay back any salary accrued while they were on administrative leave.
Josh
21 November 2011 at 4:17 pm
You are right legally and probably ethically, but of course we’ve seen the video of the act, and we’ve heard the best defense that the Chief of Police could mount (that they were trapped, surrounded, and in fear of danger), so I think there is some justification for concluding that they acted in appropriately and to cause harm.
I hate it when blowhards like the chancellor say, “I take full responsibility” and then punish underlings and expect to get off scot free. We saw a lot of that in the the Abu Gharib case and other military misadventures: officers being immune, enlisted getting the punishment, and people at the top saying “I take full responsibiity” and suffering zero sanctions. The immunity of the elite and powerful is becoming odiously obvious.
LeisureGuy
21 November 2011 at 5:51 pm
Here you have a clear case of a picture or video describing a 1,000 words. Now granted as one of the Fox commentators, mentioned – we have no idea what they did, prior to being sprayed – but even I have to relinquish that, that’s a rather lame comment – save the fact that just before they were sprayed, all were standing up and tossing buckets of urine and feces upon the police – and can’t imagine what caused that police officer to walk back and forth with his canister at full charge like he was delousing recently arrived refugees.
One thought did occur to me though, if I were the purchasing agent for the Police and upon seeing the video I would of made a note to reproach the supplier for issuing what certainly seemed to be below par pepper spray. It seemed to have absolutely no effect on the protestors, One of them can be seen with face front almost welcoming the oncoming Chile Piquin spray http://chilepequin.net/2.html and whats weird is that no one even flinched and with the stuff growing in my garden it packs a whallop in the kitchen when I toast them.
regardless I think that a fitting punishment for her would be to get totally sprayed just for the bad vibes she’s caused, it’s deplorable !!!!!!
Nick
21 November 2011 at 6:26 pm
I don’t believe the spray is so benign as you imagine. Some were hospitalized for a while, including bleeding from the throat. No one seemed to be welcoming the pepper spray so far as I could tell. Your remark about the tossing pails of urine and feces: could you provide a link? The police don’t seem to be reacting as though that had happened, and (frankly) I do not believe the account until I get further evidence.
When you reference something like that, please include a link. Thanks.
LeisureGuy
21 November 2011 at 6:50 pm
oh…i see your point…let me add the explanation, i was suggesting that it might NOT be a lame comment IF the police were having that done to them. in no way do i want to imply that that’s what had actually happened.
That the comment might not have been so lame if…i think i should of put in the word if “save for the fact that IF… sorry …and thanks for pointing that out.
I had no idea that people were hospitalized, that’s quite and disturbing and i must say, I can’t recall a time that I have ever seen a group of people NOT reacting at all to Pepper spray and especially in that vast amount or close proximity. i have been sprayed in a demonstration type setting and i can assure you it takes your breath away, breathing is labored, eyes and skin are watering and stinging profusely and all you want to do is get away from the area immediately.
They were brave….and with conviction
Nick
21 November 2011 at 7:18 pm
Just to draw your attention to the update to the original post.
LeisureGuy
21 November 2011 at 8:13 pm
What a shame it is to see the anger directed at the wrong group. It should be “Occupy D.C.” to protest “Big Government” and both parties out of control spending habits. The root the problem is all cronies in Washington that make bad policy…not Wall Street.
Paul (@p_w_k)
28 November 2011 at 12:03 pm
After all….when the cat is away, the mice will play….
Nick
28 November 2011 at 12:13 pm
I have actually found that Wall Street has behaved quite dishonorably. Bernie Madoff we know. Lehman Brothers were punished by their own failures, but Goldman Sachs and AIG were busily involved in creating worthless derivatives to sell to suckers—and the companies even *knew* the stuff they were selling was worthless, and Goldman Saches in fact was betting against its own products. Bank of America has repossessed many houses on which the mortgage has been paid off, and they refuse to recognize that
I’m amazed that anyone who follows the news can think that Wall Street’s hands are clean in this. While it’s true that Congress has done some bad things, their error is compounded by doing those things for bad reasons: because of all the money they received from Wall Street to do those things.
I have to say that I admire you for protesting Wall Street’s innocence in this, but you’re on quite shaky ground based on my reading.
LeisureGuy
28 November 2011 at 12:14 pm