Pepper-spraying cop back in the news

Whatever happened to this police officer?

Now we know. Lt. John Pike, who pepper-sprayed protesting students at the University of California Davis, was awarded $38,056 in a worker’s compensation case this week.

The Davis Enterprise says Pike, who was fired not long after the incident, suffered from depression and anxiety after nationwide death threats.

“ (The case) sends a clear message to the next officer nervously facing off with a group of passive, unarmed students: Go on ahead. Brutalize them. Trample their rights. You will be well taken care of,” Bernie Goldsmith, a lawyer in Davis, told the paper.

The people who were his target got less. Early this year, the university reached a settlement with the protesters, awarding each $30,000.

Pike was making $121,680 as a campus police officer.