Pepper Sprayed UC Davis Students get $30K Each

Although criminal charges were dropped against the U.C. Davis Police Department, the school has paid a $1 million settlement to the students who were pepper sprayed in an incident that made worldwide news last November.

This story in SF Gate reports that each of the 21 students who were sprayed will receive about $30,000 and a formal letter of apology from Chancellor Linda Katehi.

"If the First Amendment means anything, it's that students should be able to exercise their free speech-rights on their college campus without being afraid of police violence," said ACLU attorney Michael Risher. "What happened on Nov. 18 was among the worst examples of police violence against student demonstrators that we've seen in a generation. The settlement should be a wake-up call for other universities and police departments."

You can see full terms of the settlement here.

Police have argued that they were threatened and surrounded by the students and used the spray out of necessity. There is a video here supporting their claim. It sheds more light on the subject than the one photo that has spread around the world.

What do you think of the settlement? Is it enough? Too much? Should there have been criminal charges filed? Against the police? Against the students?

We'd love to hear from UC and Cabrillo students on this one.