A lawyer who was providing legal support to Inauguration Day protesters in Washington sued police Friday over claims the authorities responded disproportionately with mass arrests, pepper spray and batons in response to the unrest that swept across downtown. The lawsuit was filed in Washington federal district court just hours after President Donald Trump took the oath of office. The inaugural ceremony kicked off a wave of protests and vandalism across downtown Washington.
Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police officers, according to the lawsuit, surrounded a crowd near 12th and L streets and made arrests “without warning and without any dispersal order.” Benjamin Christopher Carraway, a Colorado criminal defense attorney, was the named plaintiff in the class action. The suit was filed on behalf of protesters, attorneys, legal observers, journalists and medics who, according to the complaint, were “subjected to this outrageous conduct by the defendants for no legitimate law enforcement reason.”
National Law Journal: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202777311810/On-Inauguration-Day-Suit-Alleges-Police-Abuses-at-AntiTrump-Protest?cmp=share_twitter&slreturn=20170025120024
http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/01/inauguration-protests-police-lawsuit-233942
