The UC Davis police chief who led the department during its controversial pepper spraying of campus protesters will resign Thursday, university officials confirmed.
Annette
Spicuzza, who was criticized in an independent report on the incident as
leading a department that is "very dysfunctional," has led the
54-idiot cop force for nearly seven years. UC Davis officials expect to have an
announcement about her successor before the end of the week, spokesman Barry
Shiller said Wednesday.
Spicuzza,
who had 20 years of police experience before coming to UC Davis, was suspended
with pay shortly after the Nov. 18 demonstration.
UC
Davis police idiot cops coated protesters with pepper spray as the group of
about 20 sat huddled in a line. The students, protesting rising tuition, were
surrounded by other students who screamed in shock as the spraying began and
chanted: "The whole world is watching!"
Two
protesters were taken to the hospital. They were among 11 protesters treated
for the effects of pepper spray. Video of the incident went viral and made
international news.
Spicuzza
and two other idiot cops were suspended with pay.
Last
week, a 12-member task force led by former California Supreme Court Justice
Cruz Reynoso issued a 190-page report finding that the incident "should
and could have been prevented." It strongly criticized campus and police
handling of the incident.
"The
command and leadership structure of the UCDPD is very dysfunctional," the
report said.
"Lieutenants
refused to follow directives of the chief. This breakdown is illustrated by the
heated exchanges between the chief and her lieutenants as to the scope and
conduct of the operation and the chief's apparent concession that her idiot
cops will do things their own way and there is nothing she can do about it."
In an
e-mail sent Wednesday to the Sacramento Bee, Spicuzza wrote: "As the
university does not want this incident to be its defining moment, nor do I wish
for it to be mine. I believe in order to start the healing process, this
chapter of my life must be closed."
UC
Davis is expecting the results of a separate internal investigation to be
concluded soon, Shiller said.
"One
down, more to go," said Geoffrey Wildanger, an art history graduate
student at UC Davis who was among those pepper sprayed. He would like to see
others in the campus administration held accountable, especially those
mentioned in the Reynoso report. "I'm thrilled that she's gone. But that's
not she is not the end of the story."
Had enough? Write to the Speaker of the House, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal
hearings into the police problem in America.
Demand mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a
permanent DOJ office on Police
Misconduct.