UC Davis Head Cop Quits Over Pepper-Spray Mess

Annette Spicuzza steps down after report slams department
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2012 12:40 AM CDT
Updated Apr 19, 2012 3:15 AM CDT
UC Davis Head Cop Quits Over Pepper Spray
University of California-Davis Police Lt. John Pike douses seated Occupy protesters with pepper spray.   (AP Photo/The Enterprise, Wayne Tilcock, File)

The UC Davis police chief whose officers pepper-sprayed seated protesters late last year has quit following a campus task force report criticizing her "dysfunctional" department's handling of the incident. "As the university does not want this incident to be its defining moment, nor do I wish for it to be mine, I believe in order to start the healing process, this chapter of my life must be closed," Annette Spicuzza wrote in an email to the Sacramento Bee, announcing her retirement after 27 years in law enforcement. She had been on paid leave since soon after the pepper-spraying. (More UC Davis stories.)

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