Lawsuit Against Baton Rouge PD

An earlier post showed stills from a video clip where an officer is drawing down on protester(s) with a large weapon and suggested there ought to be a lawsuit. Well, now there is. And it includes a whole list of violations.

The Baton Rouge Police Department and state law enforcement officials were sued in federal court on Wednesday for violating the First Amendment rights of dozens of protesters detained at demonstrations in the city last weekend.

The suit, which asks for a restraining order to prohibit officers from arresting or intimidating protesters rallying to express their anger at the killing of Alton Sterling, was filed by a coalition of rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild.

[...]

The lawyers note that a litany of violations can be seen in video recorded by protesters and journalists as more than 180 arrests were made over the weekend by heavily armed police officers, including:



  The Intercept

We'll see. At least it was filed in federal court, so there might be a chance.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Future World

Which Is Why the Answer to Police Brutality and Racial Tension Is Not Technology

Which is why these people exist...

The video of the shooting was captured by chance by members of Stop the Killing Inc, a local anti-violence activist group and documentary team that listens to police scanners and shows up at the scene of potentially violent confrontations to take video.

[...]

Stop the Killing Inc. was founded by Arthur “Silky Slim” Reed, a former gang leader turned anti-violence activist, who said that two members of his organization drove to the scene of Sterling’s shooting after hearing police scanner traffic about a potentially violent disturbance.

[...]

Reed said his group didn’t immediately release the video because it wanted to see how transparent police would be about the shooting.

  WaPo

Those brave folks are also in danger.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Which would likely pass in more states than we might think.

UPDATE:

By the way, regarding those initial reports that Sterling had pulled his gun on someone, instigating the call to police -- the store owner says Sterling was not the person involved in that incident.