Alton Sterling was shot by a police officer in front of the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge on July 5th, leading the Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation.
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Louisiana state police and Baton Rouge law enforcement officials are being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and four other social justice groups for violating the constitutional rights of protesters over the past week.
So far, 48 people arrested during demonstrations over the weekend are facing criminal charges, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota.
In making the arrests, it accuses the officers of using “unconstitutional levels of force, including physically tackling nonviolent demonstrators and use mace, taser charges, and/or pepper spray on nonviolent protesters”.
The suit, filed in Baton Rouge federal court and assigned to U.S. District Judge John deGravelles, seeks a temporary restraining order against local and state law enforcement agencies to prevent authorities from interfering with the constitutionally protected right to gather peacefully in the days ahead.
The country has been on edge since a three-day period that saw Sterling shot and killed by two Baton Rouge police officers; police fatally shot a man in a traffic stop outside St. Paul, Minn., and 14 officers shot or injured by gunfire in Dallas, five of them fatally, during a peaceful protest over policing. Police also said that arrests were made after some protesters threw pieces of concrete at officers Sunday. “Yes, you can protest, but I want everyone to protest the right way”, he said.
Baton Rouge police say force is necessary due to credible threats against the officers, including a plot that was foiled this week.
The lawsuit alleges that officers had given protesters conflicting and confusing orders and then arrested them when they did not follow them.
Baton Rouge PD spokesman Maj. Cops in the city also arrested prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson during a protest.
The lawsuit alleges police blocked off streets and sidewalks, leaving the protesters with no place to go while being ordered to disperse. “I had to run”, she said.
Police say they’ve arrested three suspects accused of stealing several handguns as part of an alleged plot to harm police officers in the Baton Rouge area.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the ACLU, the Black Youth Project and the Louisiana chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which had legal observers on hand during Sunday’s protests on Sunday.
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In addition to BRPD, defendants are the City of Baton Rouge; Police Chief Carl Dabadie, Jr., Louisiana Department of Public Safety; Louisiana State Police and Col. Michael Edmonson, the superintendent of State Police; East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Sid J. Gautreaux III; Mayor President Kip Holden; and District Attorney Hillar C. Moore, III.
