Pepper-spray settlement

Josh Voorhees has a Slate article about (as ever) justice inequality:

Remember former University of California at Davis police officer John Pike? That's him in the video above, casually pepper-spraying a group of students peacefully protesting a tuition hike back in 2011. The shocking video quickly went viral, becoming the latest in a string of rallying cries for the then-in-full-force Occupy movement and, eventually, costing Pike his job. Last week, he was awarded $38,056 from the university in a worker's comp settlement. Here's the Davis Enterprise with the details:

Pike reportedly suffered depression and anxiety brought on by death threats he and his family received after the 18 November 2011 confrontation at an Occupy UC Davis encampment. Administrative Law Judge Harter approved the settlement agreement between Pike and the University of California on 16 October 2013.

The state’s Disability Evaluation Unit determines permanent disability ratings based on doctors’ reports. Richard Lieberman, a Piedmont, California psychiatrist acting as the agreed-upon expert, rated Pike’s disability as “moderate,” according to a 5 January 2013 psychiatric report released by the state Department of Industrial Relations in response to a public records request.
Pike faced “continuing and significant internal and external stress with respect to resolving and solving the significant emotional upheavals that have occurred” in his life and had not shown evidence of substantial improvement, concluded Lieberman, who spoke with Pike twice in 2012.
To put that in perspective, the $38,000 payout is roughly $8,000 more than each of the 21 students who took the full force of Pike's pepper-spraying were awarded last year as part of a million-dollar settlement with the University. (The rest of the money was divvied up among a few other plaintiffs, along with their lawyers.)

Rico says ah, yes, the lawyers; they always get theirs, up front...