Alexis Madrigal sympathizes with Lt. John Pike, who infamously pepper-sprayed UC-Davis students last Friday:
I see John Pike as a casualty of the system, too. Our police forces have enshrined a paradigm of protest policing that turns local cops into paramilitary forces. Let's not pretend that Pike is an independent bad actor. Too many incidents around the country attest to the widespread deployment of these tactics. If we vilify Pike, we let the institutions off way too easy.
The Dish 