Pepper-Spray Cop Works His Way Through Art History

By Maura Judkis --- View the entire article

Lt. John Pike, the U.C. Davis campus police officer who pepper-sprayed passive student protesters, is popping up in some of the world’s most famous paintings as part of an Internet meme intended to shame him for his actions.

 

View Photo Gallery: Lt. John Pike, photographed pepper spraying passive protesters at U.C. Davis, has become the subject of a meme inserting him in great moments in history and art history.

On Friday, Pike casually pepper-sprayed protesters in a video that quickly went viral. “The apparent absence of empathy from the police officer, applying a toxic chemical to humans as if they were garden pests, is shocking,” The Post’s Phil Kennicott wrote.
Over the weekend, Pike’s visage popped up in Photoshopped into other scenes of languid passivity, such as Edouard Manet’s “Le Dejeuner sur l’Herbe” (The Luncheon on the Grass) pictured above.
Archibald Willard’s “The Spirit of ‘76” has a new addition.
The images are a cheeky way of fighting back against what students say was an unwarranted use of forceful policing tactics. The university has defended Pike’s actions, though he and two other police officers have been suspended pending an investigation.
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More at the Pepper Spraying Cop Tumblr.