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Ferguson Protesters Sue Police for $41 Million

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday against police and the governments of Ferguson and St. Louis County seeks $41.5 million on behalf of five protesters who say that they were arrested and beaten, tear-gassed or shot with rubber bullets.

By Robert Patrick

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday against police and the governments of Ferguson and St. Louis County seeks $41.5 million on behalf of five protesters who say that they were arrested and beaten, tear-gassed or shot with rubber bullets.

The suit was filed by the Black Lawyers for Justice, of Washington, D.C., against Ferguson, St. Louis County, and the police chiefs of both, as well as named and unnamed police officers for police actions between Aug. 10 and 13.

Its president and founder, Malik Z. Shabazz, said in a press conference that "police were completely out of control" and "used excessive force on a regular basis," calling it "virtually a police riot." Shabazz said that although the suit was filed on behalf of "the Ferguson Five," he expects others arrested during the protests to join the suit.

Ferguson and St. Louis County officials could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

One of the named plaintiffs, Dwayne A. Matthews Jr., 23, told reporters in a news conference outside U.S. District Court that he was walking to his mother's house on Aug. 13 when he was confronted by police, shot with rubber-coated bullets multiple times, nearly drowned in a drainage ditch and pepper-sprayed. Police, he said, used racial epithets and called him "mop-head" during the arrest.

Tracey White, 38, said she and her 17-year-old son were arrested Aug. 13 at the Ferguson McDonald's after attending a "Peace and Love Rally." The pair were waiting to be picked up by White's husband when police bearing rifles rushed in, she said.

"It looked like something out of a movie. It was so horrifying," she said.

She said she was thrown to the ground and arrested for "failure to disperse" when she protested the treatment of her son. He was arrested when she tried to give him the iPad she was carrying, Matthews said. They were released four to five hours later in Clayton.

Two reporters were arrested during the same incident.

The suit claims the plaintiffs were subjected to excessive force, false arrest and other civil rights violations and says that officials failed to properly train, supervise and discipline officers.

Protests followed the fatal shooting Aug. 9 of Michael Brown, 18, by Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson. Some witnesses have claimed that Wilson fired while Brown, who was not armed, was surrendering.

St. Louis County police and the Justice Department are conducting separate investigations of the incident. Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch has said a grand jury will decide, probably in October, whether there is cause for any charges against Wilson.

Police used smoke and tear gas, rubber projectiles and other tactics to quell crowds after some instances of looting and violence. More than 200 arrests were reported.

 

(c)2014 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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