In news that likely will surprise no one, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office declined to file charges against the protesters that Lt. Pike and one of other police officers fired pepper spray at during UC Davis protests on November 18, 2011.
In a brief statement, the DA’s office said, “District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced today that there was insufficient information contained within the police reports submitted by the UC Davis Police Department to justify the filing of criminal charges against those individuals arrested during the November 18, 2011, confrontation with UC Davis Police during the ‘Occupy UC Davis’ protest.”
“Based on this determination the District Attorney will not be filing charges against the protesters,” the release continued.
The district attorney’s examination into the pepper spraying of the protesters is ongoing, they said.
In a letter dated November 29, District Attorney Jeff Reisig and Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto asked Attorney General Kamala Harris to take over the investigation.
However, on December 9, 2011, the California Attorney General’s Office declined a request to investigate the events surrounding the police officers’ use of pepper spray against protesters on the campus of the University of California at Davis.
Both the district attorney and the sheriff had requested the attorney general’s assistance, based on the significant and statewide issues involved, as well as other factors.
Based on the attorney general’s decision, the district attorney and the sheriff will continue their collaborative review of the incident.
In a letter from the attorney general’s office, they stated, “As you have mentioned, none of the traditional criteria warranting this Office’s assumption of the primary law-enforcement role in this matter – including a conflict of interest or inadequate resources – are present.”
They added, “This Office justifiably maintains great confidence in the commitment of your office, and that of local law enforcement generally, to discharge its duties, and we therefore decline your request.”
“We appreciate the attorney general’s vote of confidence in our ability to competently handle this job, but the fact remains that this issue has far-reaching ramifications and that there are limited resources in Yolo County,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven said in a statement.
He added, “Despite this, the sheriff and district attorney will do our very best to conduct the investigation.”
The letter from the attorney general’s office also noted that “the Governor has directed the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to review its guidelines for law enforcement on the proper use of non-lethal force, particularly pepper spray, in the context of civil disobedience and other forms of public protest.”
—David M. Greenwald reporting
As you say, no surprise here. Seems very appropriate to me.
The earlier AG call also is correct. There’s no reason for the DA not to handle this other than the no-win aspect of whatever findings they make. Raven makes the DA office look chicken if they worry about the public reaction and try to pass this investigation off to another jurisdiction.
JS,
“Raven makes the DA office look chicken if they worry about the public reaction and try to pass this investigation off to another jurisdiction.”
Do you believe public perception is not heavily considered by DA offices when prosecuting certain cases? The question is how effective and unbiased can a law enforcement agency be when investigating an officer/agency with whom they continue to collaborate closely with and have connections to in what is a relatively small community?
[quote]”Do you believe public perception is not heavily considered by DA offices when prosecuting certain cases?”[/quote]Yes, that’s my point here. The DA doesn’t want this one, in my opinion, because any investigation results will subject them to criticism regardless of “how effective and unbiased” they handle it.
Their job is to investigate happenings in Yolo County. As the AG pointed out, there is no conflict of interest here and the office has the resources to do the job.