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DC Police Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Protesters arrested during 2020 demonstrations lodged a class action lawsuit against the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department.
- Why: The plaintiffs allege the department has failed to return their cell phones after their 2020 arrest.
- Where: The class action lawsuit is pending in District of Columbia federal court.
The DC police department has routinely and unlawfully holds cell phones seized from individuals who have been arrested, including those arrested during 2020 protests, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
On the evening of Aug. 13, 2020, lead plaintiffs Alexander Cameron and Destiny Robinson, along with dozens of other people, participated in a march calling for police reform and racial justice as part of the movement following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Others, including lead plaintiffs Benjamin Tan, Jonah Angeles, and Jake Oster walked alongside the demonstrators, serving as medics, according to the lawsuit.
While in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, DC police officers detained and arrested the named plaintiffs and others, the lawsuit states. They also seized their personal property, including their cell phones.
When the plaintiffs and other arrestees subsequently tried to retrieve their items, the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) refused to return phones to all but three arrestees. In some cases, MPD also refused to return other property, including personal protective equipment and medical supplies.
DC Police Refuses to Return Phones Despite No Charges, Says Class Action
To date, no one at the demonstration who was arrested that night has been charged with a crime. However, they still have not received their seized property, including their cell phones, according to the lawsuit.
“The improper retention of cell phones belonging to named plaintiffs and members of the putative classes is part of the District of Columbia’s policy, pattern, practice or custom of retaining cell phones seized from arrestees longer than necessary for officers to pursue any legitimate law enforcement purposes where officers have no basis for suspecting the cell phones constitute physical evidence of a crime or contain contraband,” the lawsuit states.
The class action lawsuit wants to represent other 2020 protesters who were arrested and have yet to receive their personal property back from the DC police. The plaintiffs want the MPD to return, within three days of entry of the order, cell phones, and any other property in its possession that belongs to the plaintiffs and proposed class, as well as compensatory damages and attorneys’ fees.
This is not the first time the DC police department has faced legal action over its seizure policies. In January, the MPD paid $2 million to individuals who had their vehicle or currency seized to end a class action lawsuit.
Further, DC police are not the only ones under fire for seizure of property. Earlier this year, Harris County, Texas law enforcement agencies were accused of denying citizens due process by seizing their personal property simply because of the suspicion of criminal activity in a class action lawsuit.
Do you think the plaintiffs should have their property returned? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Pro Bono Counsel Tara L. Reinhart, Julia K. York, Joseph M. Sandman, Daniel R. Blauser, and Annamaria Kimball; Scott Michelman, Arthur B. Spitzer and Michael Perloff of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of the District of Columbia; Jacqueline Kutnik-Bauder and Carlos Andino of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs and Jeffrey L. Light of the Law Office of Jeffrey L. Light.
The DC Police Class Action Lawsuit is Cameron, et al. v. District of Columbia, Case No. 1:21-cv-02908, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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