Suit alleges police brutality against Black Lives Matter protesters

The December 6, 2014 march stemmed from the choice days earlier by grand juries in NY City and Ferguson, Missouri, to not criminally cost police officers for killing unarmed, black males, the grievance stated. Dang said she was jabbed with batons, struck with tear gas and forced to walk from Berkeley to Oakland.

National Lawyers Guild attorneys and plaintiffs announced Monday the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Berkeley, as well as other city entities, over alleged police brutality in response to a December 2014 Black Lives Matter protest.

Spokespeople for the Berkeley Police Department did not return requests for comment.

Neither the city attorney nor the police department would talk with us regarding the lawsuit, saying they don’t comment on pending litigation. One officer suffered a dislocated shoulder, police said shortly after the incident.

Local community activist and one of the plaintiffs, Moni Law, recounted a moment during the protests as she urged her fellow protesters to demonstrate peacefully and cooperate with police.

Galvez, 29, was sitting in his personal auto outside the Downey Police Department on Wednesday night when the three suspects ran up to the vehicle and opened fire on the former U.S. Marine in the community 10 miles (16 km) southeast of downtown Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Portland police sources confirmed to KGW the tweet, sent from officer John Hurlman’s personal account, said, “Black Lives Matter is planning to protest at Lloyd Center on black Friday”.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said police officers’ acts that night “were willful, wanton, malicious and oppressive and done with conscious disregard and deliberate indifference for plaintiff’s rights and safety, justifying an award of punitive damages”.

The suit, which names Police Chief Michael Meehan and then-City Manager Christine Daniel as co-defendants, alleges that police beat and herded protesters and journalists in violation of their rights of free speech and due process, among other allegations.

At the press conference, Law described herself as a “reluctant plaintiff”.

In the report, BPD said that police placed an emphasis on controlling crowds rather than helping to manage and facilitate lawful activities within the protests.

Other plaintiffs are Emily Power, a Berkeley resident who, according to the suit, was clubbed repeatedly and arrested without justification; Shabazz, of Alameda, a photographer who, according to the suit, was clubbed by Berkeley officers for no legitimate reason; Todd Zimmer, an activist who, the suit claims, was hit by officers while videotaping; and Allie Loux, a UC Berkeley student who, the suit states was overcome by tear gas, fell, and hit her head when a tear gas canister fell near her.