BLM Protesters Accuse Denver Police of Excessive Force

The city of Denver has been hit with a Black Lives Matter lawsuit claiming protesters were targeted with excessive force by police officers.

In late May, police officers in Minneapolis were linked to the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Since Floyd’s death, Black Lives Matter protests have been triggered around the country in protest of ongoing police brutality. Protesters in these movements seek justice for Floyd and the countless other black individuals who have died as a result of unchecked police brutality.

According to a local Black Lives Matter chapter and several other plaintiffs, Denver was no exception to the wave of protests around the country. Unfortunately, as was the case in many other states and countries, police officers in Denver allegedly responded to the police brutality protests with unrestrained show of excessive force.

The Black Lives Matter lawsuit claims Denver police officers are guilty of “repeated violations of constitutional rights during mass protests in late May and early June and to force it to abandon its policy, practice, or custom of allowing police officers to use so-called ‘less-lethal’ weapons and tactics to suppress, deter, or injure individuals and organizations that exercise their First Amendment rights.”

Denver police officers allegedly employed tear gas, chemical irritants, rubber bullets, flash grenades, pepper spray and stunning weapons in order to suppress peaceful protesters. As a result of these measures, which the plaintiffs say count as excessive force, the plaintiffs and other protesters have reportedly suffered from significant injuries, including:

• “Skull, jaw and disc fractures”
• Brain bleeds
• Bruising of the back, limbs and face
• “Burning in and on the eyes, throat, and face”
• Lost vision
• Disorientation
• Sleeplessness
• Fearfulness and anxiety

“The City’s actions, while unconstitutional in any context, are even more pernicious here because the use of excessive force has specifically targeted peaceful demonstrators who assembled to protest police violence and brutality, including in particular police brutality that disproportionately targets African Americans,” the Black Lives Matter lawsuit explains.

The plaintiffs claim their constitutional rights were impinged upon by the Denver Police Department.

They argue that the city of Denver must atone for the officers’ excessive force and cease any future shows of force against peaceful protesters.

“Plaintiffs demand that the City and its police department accept and act in accordance with the principle that Black lives matter equally in our society and stop using indiscriminate or unlawfully targeted force against peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble, speak, and petition their government for a redress of grievances,” the lawsuit states.

This is not the first time Denver has faced a Black Lives Matter lawsuit.

Earlier this month, plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against the city alleging that police officers turned excessive force on protesters. According to these plaintiffs, the excessive force against protesters was not an isolated incident and instead is “part of a force-wide use of excessive and unconstitutional force to restrict the constitutional rights of protesters challenging racism and police brutality in our society.”

Other Black Lives Matter Lawsuits

Protesters around the country have also taken legal action against cities and their police departments following excessive force during peaceful protests.

In Seattle, plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit claiming that “in response to protests against police brutality, the police chose to engage in brutality.” Although the city’s mayor and police chief have reportedly apologized, the plaintiffs argue that injunctive relief is needed to prevent ongoing violations of protesters’ constitutional rights.

A similar class action lawsuit has been filed against Los Angeles, claiming that more than 2,600 peaceful protesters were unlawfully detained over the course of one week of protests. According to the plaintiffs, these arrests were unlawful, especially considering that protesters were detained for long periods of time without access to bathrooms, water or food.

Have protesters in your city been targeted by police brutality? Let us know in the comment section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Timothy R. Macdonald, Matthew J. Douglas, Ed Aro, R. Reeves Anderson, Colin M. O’Brien, Kathleen K. Custer and Anya A. Havriliak of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, as well as Mark Silverstein, Sara Neel and Arielle Herzberg of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado.

The Denver Black Lives Matter Lawsuit is Black Lives Matter 5280, et al. v. City and County of Denver, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-01878, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

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