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The government of Washington, D.C., has agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle a pair of class action lawsuits claiming false arrests and excessive force were used on crowds during the Trump inauguration.
In a Tuesday announcement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that the funds would go to class actions brought on behalf of demonstrators, as well as legal observers and journalists, who were allegedly swept up in mass arrests during 2017 protests of the Trump inauguration. The lawsuits accused police officers of rounding up and arresting hundreds of non-violent protesters, as well as deploying pepper spray and other explosive devices, in response to a few minor incidents of vandalism.
“I came with my son, then 10 years old, to the nation’s capital on Inauguration Day 2017 to exercise my constitutional rights and teach him about the power of protest,” said lead plaintiff Gwen Frisbie-Fulton in the ACLU statement. “Because of the wanton and brutal conduct of the D.C. police, we ended up fleeing through a cloud of pepper spray for doing nothing but chanting and holding signs. So the real lesson in how our Constitution works had to be this lawsuit, showing that there can be consequences when law enforcement abuses its power.”
The ACLU represented Frisbie-Fulton, her minor son, a legal observer, and a photojournalist in one of the class action lawsuits, Horse v. District of Columbia. The other class action lawsuit, Schultz v. District of Columbia, was filed on behalf of more than 100 demonstrators.
The 2017 Presidential Inauguration brought thousands of protesters to Washington. More than 200 were arrested without warning as the now-former president was being sworn in, according to class actions filed in the aftermath. In addition to the protesters who claimed not to have violated any laws, the mass arrests swept up journalists, legal observers, and even medical staff.
In addition to the use of excessive force and false arrest, the class actions alleged that DC police refused to provide those they had detained with access to food, water, and even bathrooms for up to 16 hours.
“It speaks volumes that the District has chosen to settle rather than defend [Metropolitan Police Department’s] obviously unconstitutional actions in court,” a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in one of the class action lawsuits said in a statement, according to The Hill.
In addition to paying out $1.6 million to end the claims, the police department has agreed to change its detention procedures as a part of the class action settlements.
The class action settlements will still need to be approved by the court. Top Class Actions will continue to monitor this story for updates.
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The lead plaintiffs in the Horse v. District of Columbia lawsuit are represented by Scott Michelman, Arthur B. Spitzer, and Shana Knizhnik of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of the District of Columbia.
The ACLU Trump Inauguration Arrest Class Action Lawsuit is Horse, et al. v. District of Columbia, et al., Case No. 1:17-cv-01216-ABJ in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The lead plaintiffs in the Schultz v. District of Columbia lawsuit are represented by Jeffrey L. Light of The Law Office of Jeffrey L. Light.
The Trump Inauguration Arrest Class Action Lawsuit is Schultz, et al. v. District of Columbia, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-00120 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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