Police Officer Who Pepper-Sprayed UC Davis Protesters Awarded $38,000 Settlement

Wayne Tilcock, The Davis Enterprise

A former University of California-Davis police officer made famous after being filmed pepper-spraying seated activists during a Nov. 2011 protest has been awarded a $38,059 workers' compensation settlement, The Guardian reports.

John Pike, a 40-year-old former lieutenant on the university police force, claimed he suffered from depression and anxiety after receiving death threats following the incident.

A judge approved the settlement between Pike and the university on Oct. 16, according to KCRA.

The Guardian has more:

Pike was placed on paid administrative leave after the incident and was fired eight months later in July 2012 - although an internal investigation actually found he had acted appropriately.

Video filmed at the November 2011 protest showed Pike, who was dressed in riot gear and wearing a helmet with visor, walking along a line of seated protesters spraying a steady stream of orange tear-gas toward their faces.

The footage later went viral across the web, resulting in widespread condemnation of the officer's actions. UC-Davis had previously paid out $1 million to settle a lawsuit by the demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed by Pike, according to The Guardian.

That included $250,000 in legal fees and a $30,000 payout to each protester sprayed.

Here's video of the incident: