UC Davis pepper-spraying report OKd for release

Source: SF Chronicle

Over a police union's objections, a judge authorized UC Davis on Wednesday to release a report that criticizes the university and its campus security force for pepper-spraying student demonstrators in November.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo said the names of individual officers should be deleted, except for campus Police Chief Annette Spicuzza, who has been suspended with pay over the incident, and Lt. John Pike, shown spraying seated protesters in a widely viewed video.

Grillo rejected arguments by police union lawyers that publishing the report's conclusions that some officers acted improperly would subject them to harassment and violate state confidentiality laws for complaints of police misconduct. He delayed publication of the document until at least April 20 to give the union time to appeal.

Michael Morguess, a lawyer for the union, said Pike has received thousands of negative messages since the video appeared. A report that concluded police violated university policies would "embolden someone who seeks to harass" other officers, even if their names were omitted, he said.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/28/BACR1NRMM7.DTL

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Why else would the union object the release other than knowing that the report contains the awful truth?