UC Davis police face no charge over pepper spraying OWS protesters

The two US police officers who pepper-sprayed a row of peaceful seated Occupy Wall Street protesters at the University of California, Davis campus last year will go unpunished.

On Wednesday, the local attorney and prosecutors told the media outlets that the officers, who dosed a number of anti-Capitalism students and alumni with pepper spray to disperse the peaceful gathering in November 2011, will not face any possible criminal charges.

According to the office of the Yolo County District, the decision was taken due to “insufficient evidence” to prove the illegality of pepper spraying the protesting students.

In April, a task force appointed by the university concluded that the use of pepper spray by the police forces against the students was “unreasonable” and “could have been prevented.”

However, the November incident led to the suspension of the campus police chief and two other officers who had directly been involved in dosing the protesters with pepper spray.

At the time, the university’s chancellor, Linda P.B. Katehi, confirmed that the decision to place the police chief on administrative leave was taken to calm down the outrage at the campus community.

The heavy-handed crackdown of the anti-Capitalism Occupy Wall Street movement by police and security forces has drawn widespread condemnations in the American society.