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Two California Black Lives Matter protesters are claiming Santa Rosa police responded with excessive force to peaceful demonstrations against police brutality.
Marqus Martinez and Michaela Staggs are pursuing a class action against the California city and its police chief after the two protesters and others were severely injured by tear gas and projectiles launched by members of the Santa Rosa Police Department.
Staggs, a 20-year-old resident of Santa Rosa, says she drove downtown with some friends May 30 to attend a Black Lives Matter demonstration. When they arrived at the town square, she saw a crowd of peaceful protesters facing a line of police in riot gear. She says she used her phone to start live-streaming the events on Facebook because she believed the protesters were in danger.
When police subsequently ordered the crowd to disperse, she and her friends retreated and soon found themselves in yet another crowd of frightened protesters surrounded by police. As officers began launching tear gas and projectiles toward the crowd, Staggs says, she was hit in the forehead with a M871 40mm chalk grenade.
The Santa Rosa class action describes this as “a training round, designed to mimic the ballistic performance of 40mm grenades.” It can be fired with great accuracy, the filing states, but is not meant to be used against people.
Staggs says she fell to the ground, bleeding. The wound reportedly required 13 stitches, and she suffered dizziness, headaches and nausea for days.
The other lead plaintiff, Martinez, is a father of five and a member of the Pomo Indian Tribe.
He attended a peaceful demonstration in support of the Black Lives Matter movement May 31 in downtown Santa Rosa, the lawsuit reports; but as time passed, the crowd and the number of police in riot gear increased.
Finally, though the protesters remained peaceful, police began firing tear gas into the crowd, he says.
One canister exploded near him, and he retreated several blocks along with others around him.
Shortly after that, according to the Santa Rosa class action, Martinez turned to face a phalanx of police and “took a knee, raising his hands in the air to show he was not a threat.” But as advancing officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets toward the protesters, he stood and began recording the events on his cellphone.
Moments later, he says, police hit him in the face with a “sting ball” grenade — a flash-bang device that launches 180 rubber projectiles and tear gas in all directions.
The explosion destroyed his phone, the lawsuit reports. It also “ripped his face open,” breaking his jaw and driving several teeth through his tongue and into the roof of his mouth. He underwent extensive emergency surgery that day and has lost more teeth since then. Further surgery will be required.
“You can’t just shoot somebody in the face with a sting ball grenade — that’s not OK,” Martinez said in a local newspaper article. “I didn’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I wasn’t looting. I was invoking my right to freedom of speech.”
The plaintiffs note that such police brutality existed in Santa Rosa long before the Black Lives Matter protests crescendoed this spring. In the past 20 years, 91 police-related deaths have been recorded in Sonoma County, where the 250-officer Santa Rosa Police Department is the second-largest law enforcement agency.
“In response to protests that police are too violent, the police respond with more violence,” plaintiffs’ counsel said in the news article. “They crossed a bright line. They could have killed people. They were aiming at people’s heads or, at best, they were firing indiscriminately at crowds.”
The Santa Rosa class action plaintiffs are seeking to represent all demonstrators who participated or intended to participate in the protests beginning May 30 in Santa Rosa.
They also are seeking certification of three subclasses: those who were subjected to the Santa Rosa police use of tear gas during those protests; those subjected to “less-lethal” projectiles; and those subjected to allegedly unconstitutional responses to their attempts to record police activity.
The plaintiffs are claiming violations of First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and assembly, as well as excessive force under the Fourth Amendment. They want the court to issue restraining orders barring the city from using chemical agents, rubber bullets and other “less-lethal” projectiles in response to nonviolent protesters; and a preliminary injunction against the allegedly illegal activities outlined in the lawsuit.
In addition, on behalf of themselves and other proposed Class Members, they are seeking damages for their injuries, plus court costs and “such other and further relief as the Court deems equitable and just.”
Have you been injured by police while protesting? Tell us your story in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Izaak D. Schwaiger of the Schwaiger Law Firm and John H. Scott of the Scott Law Firm.
The Santa Rosa Class Action Lawsuit is Marqus Martinez and Michaela Staggs, et al. v. City of Santa Rosa and Rainer “Ray” Navarro, Case No. 3:20-cv-04135, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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