Pepper Spray | featured news

The University of California has agreed to pay about $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by UC-Davis students pepper-sprayed by campus police during an Occupy-style protest.

A woman who says she doused other deal-hunting shoppers with pepper spray at a Porter Ranch Wal-Mart turned herself in to police Friday night and was later released. About 20 people suffered minor injuries after a woman fired pepper spray into a crowd Thursday night before leaving the store with her purchase of an Xbox game console, authorities said. The injured, including children, complained of minor skin and eye irritation and sore throats.

Authorities say 20 people had minor injuries when a woman shot other customers with pepper spray during a Black Friday sale. Police Lt. Abel Parga says she was trying to keep other shoppers away from the merchandise she wanted.

UC Davis' embattled chancellor said campus police officers defied her orders when they used pepper spray on peaceful Occupy protesters last week. Chancellor Linda Katehi's statement comes as outrage continued over the incident, which was caught on tape.

The University of California, Davis, placed the officers on leave after videos of the incident were widely distributed over the Internet.

The University of California, Davis said on Saturday it would launch an investigation over video footage that appeared to show campus police using pepper spray against seated student protesters at close range.

Pepper spray has been flying off the shelves in the central Texas towns where a series of rapes and robberies of elderly women have been occuring in the past year.