You have to be under a rock to not know what has been happening in Ferguson, MO this month. After the killing of unarmed 18-year-old Mike Brown by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson (for which Wilson has not been punished), people took the streets to let the system know they won’t stand for police brutality. In response to Brown’s killing and the police killings in New York City, Beavercreek, OH, Los Angeles and, now, Louisiana. people have shown up in Ferguson from miles around to show their disgust with law enforcement. Tibetan monks have even been seen there. To greet the mainly peaceful protestors (though some looting has taken place), police have been out in heavy force in military vehicles, toting “army guns.” The militarization of law enforcement was compounded when the National Guard was called into Ferguson.

As a result, one man lost his life and many people (including journalists) have been arrested . Police have not discriminated in who they take in. Even a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor was taken in. Innocent people are taken in as well. The Associated Press reports that in response to the police’s heavy-handed treatment of them, some of those innocent people  have filed a lawsuit, alleging excessive force and false arrests of innocent bystanders. Five plaintiffs are seeking $40 million in damages from Ferguson and St. Louis police personnel. All were around during the unrest in Ferguson, not necessarily participants. One is a clinical social worker who claims law enforcement were arrested aggressively with her and her 17-year-old son “after not evacuating a McDonald’s quickly enough.” There is also a 23-year-old man claims to have been simply walking through the protest to his mother’s house when he was “shot multiple times with rubber bullets and called racial slurs by police.” Another man was allegedly arrested for filming the protests.

Law enforcement officers named include Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma. The suit also names “several unnamed officers identified collectively as John Doe, and the city and county governments.” 

 

 

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