Appeals court rules police officers involved in UC Davis pepper-spraying incident can be named
By Kristen Taketa
July 24, 2013 2:15 p.m.
A district court of appeals ruled Tuesday that newspapers can know and publish the names of about a dozen University of California police officers who took part in a controversial pepper spray incident at UC Davis.
In November 2011, a video went viral of police officers involved in pepper-spraying nonviolent protesters at the Davis campus, arousing public outrage. Two reports commissioned by the UC reviewed the facts of the incident and made policy recommendations to prevent further such incidents but left out the names of the involved police officers.
Last year, the Los Angeles Times and The Sacramento Bee filed a petition for writ of mandate to compel the University to reveal the police officers’ names, according to Tuesday’s court of appeals opinion.
The Federated Union Police Officers Association, a union for UC police, had challenged that request, saying the release of the police’s names would endanger the confidentiality of their personnel records, the court document said.
A lower trial court and the First District Court of Appeals both ruled, however, that such information was not exempt from disclosure.
The police officers’ names will not immediately be released. The UC police union still has 40 days from the day of the ruling to appeal its case to the California Supreme Court.
Compiled by Kristen Taketa, Bruin senior staff.
