Posted on 07/01/2003 12:53:43 PM PDT by areafiftyone
Police brutally tried to rein in an anti-war rally in February by beating protesters with batons, allowing horses to trample others and holding detainees for hours without food or water, a lawsuit claims.
The federal civil rights suit filed Tuesday also claims police set up barricades in a deliberate attempt to trap protesters, then arrested them for not dispersing.
The suit was filed by 15 protesters who were among several hundred arrested at the Feb. 15 demonstration, which stretched more than 20 blocks on Manhattan’s East Side.
Rallies were staged around the world that day to protest U.S. plans for war against Iraq, which began weeks later. Organizers said up to 500,000 people took part in New York; police put the number at 100,000.
Police said they had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
The suit names Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as a defendant. It seeks unspecified damages.
The suit claims police arrested dozens of people simply for crowd control, not because police believed they were breaking the law. Some were held for hours without toilet access, food, water or medical supplies, the suit says.
In addition to the brutality claims, the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleges police denied protesters their constitutional rights under several amendments.
One of the plaintiffs, Amy Haus, said police had allowed a horse to trample her from behind, leaving a purplish bruise covering one of her legs nearly from hip to knee. She said surgeons eventually had to operate to drain fluid from it.
In the moments after the horse stepped on her, she said, the massive crowd penned in by police barricades cut off any way for her to seek immediate help.
“I was in pretty bad shape,” said Haus, a 53-year-old hospital therapist from Manhattan. “It was very frightening.”
Some of the plaintiffs have filed civilian complaints with the Police Department that are pending, said William Goodman, one of the lawyers who filed the suit. He said others simply chose to take legal action.
So far 70 complaints connected to the Feb. 15 rally have been filed with the Police Department’s civilian review board, said spokesman Ray Patterson. Those complaints are pending.
LOL. And thanks for marching...
Whutchu talkin about, Willis? We are the "minority protestors" NOW.
And if I ever behaved in the way those peaceniks did, when they came to my city and shut it down and trashed it, I'd expect the same treatment.
We footed a hefty bill for their "free speech" that day, btw. $900,000, which doesn't included the money LOST to retail establishments on a Saturday. All because of the stage-managing by antiwar movement, who wouldn't be satisfied with people staying home and protesting in their own cities. No, it all had to be dumped on *us* so it would look better on television in Europe.
I don't feel sorry for anyone who got arrested, because I saw them close up. They were spoiling for trouble, and if some of them got it, too bad. Maybe they won't come back.
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