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Civil rights groups sue de Blasio, NYPD over protest response
Source: Politico
NEW YORK — The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society are suing Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD brass, charging they are responsible for the “indiscriminate brutalizing of peaceful protestors” during a wave of demonstrations that swept the city earlier this year.
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday morning in Manhattan argues the city’s treatment of protesters who turned out after the killing of George Floyd violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights. De Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea drew widespread condemnation for police aggression during the demonstrations.
“The police response to the protests was brutal, and the wanton display of brute force against people who were out there protesting non-violently was shocking,” NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said in an interview. “It was harmful. It was traumatic. And it was unlawful.”
Eleven plaintiffs named in the suit say that while participating in protests between May 28 and June 28, they were beaten with batons, hit with pepper spray or subjected to “kettling” — a tactic in which police hemmed in and charged protesters. One protester’s arm was broken. Another was struck by the door of a moving police vehicle, the suit says.
A federal civil rights lawsuit filed Monday morning in Manhattan argues the city’s treatment of protesters who turned out after the killing of George Floyd violated their First and Fourth Amendment rights. De Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea drew widespread condemnation for police aggression during the demonstrations.
“The police response to the protests was brutal, and the wanton display of brute force against people who were out there protesting non-violently was shocking,” NYCLU executive director Donna Lieberman said in an interview. “It was harmful. It was traumatic. And it was unlawful.”
Eleven plaintiffs named in the suit say that while participating in protests between May 28 and June 28, they were beaten with batons, hit with pepper spray or subjected to “kettling” — a tactic in which police hemmed in and charged protesters. One protester’s arm was broken. Another was struck by the door of a moving police vehicle, the suit says.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/10/26/civil-rights-groups-sue-de-blasio-nypd-over-protest-response-1330721
