Courts, police say pepper spray 'defensive' only

More than a decade before last week's videotaped incident at UC Davis, a federal appeals court ruled in the case of North Coast logging protesters that officers can legally use the caustic chemical only to prevent harm to themselves or someone else.

The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which advises police agencies and officers statewide, says pepper spray "can have very serious and debilitating consequences," and "should only be generally used as a defensive weapon" and never to intimidate or retaliate.

Friday's pepper-spraying of students as they sat on the ground, their arms linked and heads bowed, has drawn criticism from UC President Mark Yudof, an apology from Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, and the suspension, with pay, of two officers and the campus police chief.

On Tuesday, Yudof asked the acting police chief to get criminal charges dismissed against 10 protesters involved in Friday's demonstration and said the school would pay the demonstrators' medical bills. He also named William Bratton, a former Los Angeles police chief, to direct a review of the pepper-spray incident.

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