Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Everybody saw this coming.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The willow is too close to the house.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / Shitty Cops / Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

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This is nice:

Lt. John Pike, the UC Davis police officer who became a focal point of last November’s pepper-spraying incident during a campus protest, is no longer employed by the university, a spokesman confirmed late Tuesday.

UC Davis spokesman Barry Shiller said he could not discuss the details of Pike’s departure, but in response to queries from The Bee, he said Pike was no longer employed there as of Tuesday.

“Consistent with privacy guidelines established in state law and university policy, I can confirm that John Pike’s employment with the university ended on July 31, 2012,” Shiller said. “I’m unable to comment further.”

Still don’t know why the chancellor still has her job, though.

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  3. 3.

    General Stuck

    There just wasn’t any way to defend what he did, not only that he did it for people sitting down that didn’t deserve it for some protocol issue via cop ethics But because his body language, lackadaisical, as your neighborhood sadist – living his fantasy.

  4. 4.

    katie5

    She has her job because Boards of Governors love this kind of hardline reaction towards student protestors.

  5. 5.

    pragmatism

    what sort of wingnut welfare will former Lt. Pike receive? Human shield against potential ghey activist bombers at fox news HQ? Security guard in rmoney’s car elevator?

  6. 6.

    Tonal Crow

    @pragmatism:

    what sort of wingnut welfare will former Lt. Pike receive? Human shield against potential ghey activist bombers at fox news HQ? Security guard in rmoney’s car elevator?

    I’m guessing “national security commentator” on Rush’s show, or possibly even at Faux.

    —
    Tag: Romney’s like Sarah Palin, but more dishonest.

  8. 8.

    Dennis SGMM

    He’ll “write” a book, Regnery will publish it. Then he’ll enjoy a run of Joe the Plumber-type gigs.

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    Am gobsmacked he was first found to have “acted reasonably” and it took the replacement chief to give him a much-deserved, well-aimed boot.

    The internal affairs investigation into last November’s pepper-spraying controversy at UC Davis concluded that Lt. John Pike acted reasonably, with a subsequent review concluding he should have faced demotion or a suspension at worst, according to documents obtained by The Bee.
    __
    Despite those recommendations, Pike was fired Tuesday after UC Davis Police Chief Matthew Carmichael rejected the findings and wrote in a letter to Pike that “the needs of the department do not justify your continued employment,” according to the documents.

    http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/02/4684333/uc-davis-chief-overruled-panel.html#storylink=cpy

  11. 11.

    LGRooney

    And, you know, he was making over 100K in his job? Campus cop in Davis? Guess I don’t have enough boot stomp in me with my foreign languages, international business experience and advanced professional degree.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    Also, too, local Patriots(tm) are stepping over one another to defendlaud the cretin in comments.

    The protesters refused repeated orders to leave, instead choosing to encircle the police in a threatening manner, blocking the exit route. Bashing a few punkass heads would have been appropriate, but the poor little whiney pukes got off easy with a little pepper. I hope none of the complainers were actually students because it’s disheartening to think that these losers are the future of America.

    What Pike did was equivalent to giving the protesters a spanking. He didn’t like their whiny, entitled attitudes, and taught them a lesson. That’s great! Except that it’s unconstitutional. No amount of acting on that video would make anyone believe he was defending his person. He just wasn’t. He made it easy to tell by walking up and down like he was spraying the weeds. I don’t think we need to talk about this more. Let’s all go to Chick fil a!

    Smell the Freedom!

  13. 13.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    Pike can go on to his new job doing security work for Chick-Fil-A.

    Turds of a feather…

  14. 14.

    Tonal Crow

    Pike’s case is one of many examples of why all police must be subject to citizen review boards with the power to fire them and to reduce or eliminate their pensions.

    And what the hell, the majority of such boards should legally be required to be filled with people who have been members of the local or state ACLU affiliate for at least 5 years as of the date of appointment.

    —
    Tag: Romney’s like Sarah Palin, but more dishonest.

  15. 15.

    Mattminus

    He’s probably already got an offer from the Irvine PD. That community will love his approach to policing.

  16. 16.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    Still don’t know why the chancellor still has her job, though.

    Hey, that scapegoat’s not going to throw hisself under that bus, y’know?

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    Glad you agree with me, Cole!

    What I didn’t say on the front page last night — I like to leave some easy pitches for the commentors, because this blog is all about the sharing — is that I hope this jamoke enjoys his 15 seconds in the spotlight, because he’s made himself unemployable in his chosen field. At the age of 39, which is too young to retire and too old to go back to unpaid internships. He’s almost certainly too inarticulate for “wingnut welfare” (which doesn’t require intelligence or education, but does require the ability to stand up on camera and yark out idiocies with conviction), so a minimum-wage job protecting the local Chick-fil-A from rowdy teenagers is probably the best he can hope for in his future.

  22. 22.

    MattR

    How do you cut the next paragraph?

    Pike, 39, declined to comment when reached by The Bee as he was sitting in a meeting on campus where he said he was being terminated.

  23. 23.

    Darkrose

    I think my Summary of Accomplishments should include, “Did not pepper spray anyone.”

    Words can’t adequately describe how pissed I am about this.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    @SatanicPanic: Anaheim. Costa Mesa isn’t exactly a paragon of civic restraint, either. There’s plenty of examples to go around, and Irvine didn’t have a great reputation 20 years ago, but I can’t find much to complain about in recent history.

  25. 25.

    MattMinus

    @Anne Laurie:

    I was joking about irvine (not based on anything about their cops, just my general impression of the place), but this happens all the time.

    I’ve seen countless stories where a cop gets dismissed from one pd for brutality or somesuch and another one immediately get hired elsewhere. I suspect there’s an element of “there but for the grace of god…”involved. I’m sure some peckerwood sheriff somewhere thatd love to hire him just to piss off a liberal.

    Now,if he had reported another cop for brutality or dui, then he’d never work again.

  26. 26.

    Jim Pharo

    Don’t know if this is repetitive of better comments up-thread, but why do we care this guy lost his job? Isn’t justice here this guy in jail?

    I wonder if James Holmes has been fired yet…

  28. 28.

    LanceThruster

    It must incense cops to no end that in the age of ubiquitous visual media, it’s just not as easy to lie your way out of the bullsh!t you’d usually get away with.

    If it were just eyewitness testimony (reporters included), he would most likely still have his job. How sad is that?

    Up your nose, with a rubber hose, d-bag (probably something he and the boys at the station have tried on a commie radical or three)!

  29. 29.

    LanceThruster

    @Jim Pharo:

    True, it was an assualt under the color of authority but I suppose the extenuating circumstances were that he thought he was doing his job, no?

    You can get away with an awful lot of nonsense under the ruse that you were in fear for your safety.

  30. 30.

    folsom ca

    The on campus cops are there to protect the students, not harm them. My son went to UC Berk. and the campus was fully staffed with police. I am not sure why this guy felt the need to assault students who are sitting down, peacefully. It is not an image a young student needs to learn, ever.

  31. 31.

    West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)

    Were those actual comments, trollhatten @ #9? (They sound like what I encounter when braving the comments forums of a lot of blogs.)

    It is strange to me how we all (liberals and conservatives) have the same DNA, grew up in the same nation, largely attended similar schools, watched the same stupid TV shows, and such, and yet have such astoundingy different views on things. There are truly knuckleheads who believe Obama is a Marxist, that sexually-active unmarried women are all sluts, that polar bears make good rifle targets, that global warming is a bunch of nonsense….

    Was it the parenting that led to such views? Is Rush Limbaugh and company largely responsible for so much misinformation? Can we blame it on conservative churches? Too many Twinkies and Tom and Jerry cartoons?

    Frell, there are a lot of stupid people in the universe.

  32. 32.

    Evolving Deep Southerner

    @Anne Laurie: Mr. Cole, sometimes I think that I read this blog more often than you do. This is one of those times. And they’re not all that infrequent.

    It’s your blog, though. Hell, I don’t mind taking another run at it. If Anne Laurie’s pissed, though, I can’t really blame her.

  33. 33.

    Evolving Deep Southerner

    @West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.):

    It is strange to me how we all (liberals and conservatives) have the same DNA, grew up in the same nation, largely attended similar schools, watched the same stupid TV shows, and such, and yet have such astoundingy different views on things.

    It’s all in the amygdala, or so I’m told.

  35. 35.

    Anne Laurie

    @MattMinus:

    I’ve seen countless stories where a cop gets dismissed from one pd for brutality or somesuch and another one immediately get hired elsewhere.

    Well, keeping Those People (poor whites and all non-whites) in Their Place is merely a faux pas. But Pike’s gotten his employers’ insurance carriers into a world of hurt by abusing white kids whose parents have the social status to make their complaints felt, and that’s why he’s unlikely to work as a LEO elsewhere. It’s not a coincidence that Kent State and the Chicago convention remain media touchpoints, while all the other civil rights protesters killed or injured by the police in the same era have been forgotten beyond a vague ‘Black Muslim Panther looters throwing molotov cocktails at hard-working white people’ phastasm.

  36. 36.

    West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)

    I had to look up “amygdala”, Evolving Deep Southener, but not that you mention it, I do recall hearing stories of late about how brain chemistry really is a big determining factor in our political allegiences and such. Curious….

    I keep telling myself, trollhatten (@ #34) to stop poking around the comments section (of NPR, Mediaite, Politico, etc.). The comments really can erode my faith in humanity (though NPR does run pretty heavily liberal among its listeners, based upon the number of “thumbs up” comments liberal posters get compared to far-right trogs).

  37. 37.

    daverave

    @trollhattan:

    Well trollhattan, it appears that as a fellow denizen of the Great Central Valley, you should be well-versed that this place is more Iowa than California on many levels.

    ETA: on second thought, make that more Oklahoma… sorry Iowa ;-)

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