A former policeman who pepper-sprayed peaceful student protesters in 2011 has been awarded $38,000 in worker's compensation for psychiatric damage he claimed to have suffered from the incident, according to Reuters.
University of California police Lieutenant John Pike essentially symbolized law enforcement hostility against anti-Wall Street protests at the time, once video footage on the incident aired on TV.
The video shows Pike dousing demonstrators in the face with a can of pepper spray as they sat on the ground.
The officer was then suspended from his job at UC Davis and eventually he decided to leave the force in July 2012, according to Reuters.
The incident was mocked in satirical messages that went viral on the internet, in which still photos of Pike using his pepper spray can were inserted into famous works of art or pop culture images.
The university agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the 21 students who got sprayed and reportedly suffered from "panic attacks, trauma and academic problems as a result" according to Reuters.
In June of this year, Pike filed a worker's compensation claim with UC Davis over the incident, claiming he "suffered unspecified psychiatric and nervous system damage."
On October 16, the state Division of Workers Compensation Appeals Board agreed to resolve his claim by paying him a settlement totaling $38,055.
"This case has been resolved in accordance with state law and processes on workers' compensation," UC Davis spokesman Andy Fell said in a statement. "The final resolution is in line with permanent impairment as calculated by the state's disability evaluation unit."
Pike earned over $110,000 from his job in 2010, according to The San Francisco Chronicle
The paper also confirmed that Pike received over 17,000 angry or threatening emails, 10,000 text messages and hundreds of letters after the video of the pepper-spraying went viral.
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