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A class action lawsuit has been filed against the South Carolina’s Columbia Police Department after a man says peaceful protesters were met with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Lead plaintiff Patrick Norris claims that he was hit several times in the back with rubber bullets while police attempted to break up a peaceful protest in the city on May 31, 2020.
He says he and others affected by the police retaliation were peaceful protesters and did not try to attack or otherwise provoke the police.
Norris claims the protesters were attempting to walk from the State House to the police department as a part of a “spontaneous march.” As they made their way down Hampton Street, the peaceful protesters were met with a police barricade at an intersection.
The plaintiff says the barricade consisted of “a mix of Richland sheriff’s deputies, Columbia police officers, and members of the South Carolina Department of Corrections Special Response Team,” armed with riot gear, including plastic shields.
Norris claims that he and other protesters stood behind the barricades and chanted, but did not try to advance on the police. However, the police reportedly began pushing protesters with their shields.
At that point, alleges the plaintiff, one officer swung his baton at protesters. Then, the police began to shoot rubber bullets at protesters and also used tear gas, the lawsuit states.
“Unknown Law Enforcement Officers were the aggressors – they stormed the barricade using a shield wall and began indiscriminatingly firing into the crowd,” alleges the police brutality class action lawsuit. “Plaintiff was in the crowd of peaceful protestors. Plaintiff did nothing to justify the use of tear gas, the firing of rubber bullets, or the use of any force. Plaintiff was struck numerous times in the back by rubber bullets, including in the back.”
The complaint contains pictures of the plaintiff showing large red marks on his back from shortly after the protest, as well as the spread of these marks to yellow and purple bruises, and another large bruise on his leg.
The plaintiff says he is lodging this class action lawsuit not only to “seek redress for violations of his constitutional rights,” but also to hold the police officers who resorted to rubber bullets and tear gas responsible for their “misconduct.”
According to WIS News 10, Columbia Sheriff Leon Lott maintains that law enforcement officers did not respond with rubber bullets and tear gas until they were attacked by protesters on May 31, 2020.
“There’s no doubt what their intent was and that was to destroy property, police cars, police buildings, whatever,” said Sheriff Lott, according to the report. “So we had to stop them and we did stop them.”
WIS News 10 also reports that, while its reporters on the scene did not see any rubber bullets, they were further away from the barricades.
Additionally, an unidentified officer reportedly told them that he had a “bean bag” gun at the time of the protest. A statement that was reportedly corroborated by Sheriff Lott, who confirmed that bean bags were used during the protest.
The class action lawsuit asserts that police actions toward peaceful protesters were excessive. Instead of protecting Columbia residents, the police officers used indiscriminate force as a counter measure to a constitutionally protected demonstration, alleges the complaint.
“There is a social awakening sweeping through the United States,” states the class action lawsuit. “Protests over police brutality are happening in nearly every major city in the country. This mass movement over law enforcement’s treatment of African-Americans ignited over the outrage of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, but tension over the treatment of minorities by police officers has been building over generations.”
The plaintiff seeks to represent other peaceful protesters who were met with allegedly excessive force during the May 31, 2020 demonstration in Columbia, S.C.
Have you been a protester during the police brutality or Black Lives Matter demonstrations? Have you experienced police retaliation with rubber bullets, tear gas or other measures? Tell us what happened in the comments section below.
The lead plaintiff and proposed Class Members are represented by Marc Brown of the Marc Brown Law Firm LLC.
The Peaceful Protester Rubber Bullets Class Action Lawsuit is Norris v. Richland County Sheriff’s Department, et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-02212, in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Columbia Division.
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One thought on S.C. Peaceful Protesters File Police Brutality Class Action
Yes I was in South Carolina at this time cause my Mother was having hip surgery. I was visiting my niece in Columbia and we went to join the peaceful protest for racial injustice, and was met instead with police and rubber bullets telling us to disperse. We were being peaceful.