Anonymous goes after UC Davis pepper-spray cop

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Published time: November 23, 2011 22:35
Edited time: November 24, 2011 02:35

It’s been a hectic week for Lt. John Pike. First he was suspended for his now notorious pepper-spray assault on protesters at UC Davis. Next he became an online sensation.

Now the campus police officer has his phone ringing off the hook — and it doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon.

The online retaliation against the University of California Davis cop has only gotten stronger in recent days, and after a series of edited images portraying the police officer firing at everything from Mount Rushmore and Revolution War soldiers to classic works of art have made their rounds on the Web, hacking collective Anonymous has fired back with an assault of their own.

In a video clip uploaded to YouTube on Tuesday, a digitized voice claiming to be an operative with the shadowy hacktivist group Anonymous released the cell phone number, email and home address of Pike — and according to the Daily News, his voicemail box has been full ever since.

While YouTube raced to erase the video — citing a breach in its clause prohibiting hate speech — the contents of the clip have since circulated the Web. As the voice in the video puts it, "Dear Officer John Pike, we are Anonymous. Your information is now public domain.”

"We have no problem targeting police and releasing their information even if it puts them at risk," Anonymous claims, "because we want them to experience just a taste of the brutality and misery they serve us on an everyday basis."

The group adds, however, that more damage is on the way, so although no specifics are made, Lt. Pike and other overzealous officers that have gone after Occupy protesters should be ready.

"Expect our full wrath," the video adds. "Anonymous seeks to avenge all protesters. We are going to make you squeal like a pig,” they say, noting that police brutality “will no longer be tolerated.”

It looks as though the Internet meme that the now iconic image of Pike firing pepper spray at protesters was just the tip of the iceberg.

Nearly two months earlier, Anonymous operatives posted similar private information pertaining to NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna, calling for an all-out attack on him as well.

“As we watched your officers kettle innocent women, we observed you barberically [sic] pepper spray wildly into the group of kettled women,” an alleged Anonymous member wrote on the Web back in September. “We were shocked and disgusted by your behavior. You know who the innocent women were, now they will have the chance to know who you are. Before you commit atrocities against innocent people, think twice. WE ARE WATCHING!!! Expect Us!”

The chancellor of UC Davis has since apologized for Pike’s actions, though community members — protesters, students and faculty alike — continue to call for her resignation.