Ferguson, county police 'out of control,' say 5 in federal suit

Friday, August 29, 2014

ST. LOUIS -- A federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that police in Ferguson and St. Louis County used excessive force and falsely arrested innocent bystanders during attempts to quell widespread unrest after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

The five plaintiffs in the suit in St. Louis include a clinical social worker who said she and her 17-year-old son were roughed up and arrested after not evacuating a McDonald's quickly enough. They also include a 23-year-old man who said he was shot multiple times with rubber bullets and called racial slurs by police while walking through the protest zone to his mother's home, and a man who said he was arrested for filming the disturbances.

"The police were completely out of control," said attorney Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice, a group whose members sought to quell tensions at the nightly protests that stretched for more than week after Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, who is white, shot the unarmed Brown, who is black.

The lawsuit names Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma, several unnamed officers identified collectively as John Doe, and the city and county governments.

Shabazz said the suit could be broadened to include additional plaintiffs. A St. Louis County police spokesman referred inquiries to County Counselor Patricia Redington, who said she had not seen the suit and declined to comment.

In the immediate days after Brown's shooting, Ferguson police in riot gear fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who refused to disperse and, at times, broke into nearby stores.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon eventually placed the State Highway Patrol in charge of securing Ferguson with a more relaxed approach. Nixon later imposed a curfew that was lifted after several nights of clashes between police and protesters, and called in the National Guard, whose members have since departed Ferguson.

Plaintiff Tracey White said she and her son, a high school junior, were waiting for a ride from her husband at a West Florissant Avenue McDonald's after attending an Aug. 13 "peace and love" rally at a Ferguson church when several rifle-carrying officers told her she was being arrested because she would not "shut up."

White said she and her son were detained for five hours at the county jail on charges of failing to disperse, but she said she was not provided with any records reflecting that charge or a future court date.

"It was so horrifying," she said. "We did nothing wrong."

Also Thursday, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton broke nearly three weeks of silence on Brown's shooting, saying his death and the violent protests that followed resulted from frayed bonds of trust in a racially divided community.

"This is what happens when the bonds of trust and respect that hold any community together fray," she said Thursday. "Nobody wants to see our streets look like a war zone. Not in America. We are better than that."

Clinton also praised "the many decent and respectful law enforcement officers who showed what quality law enforcement looks like" during the protests in Ferguson, but added that the justice system is stacked against blacks.

As a potential Democratic presidential candidate, Clinton had been criticized for waiting so long to talk about the shooting.

Civil-rights activist Al Sharpton was among those who chastised Clinton and other politicians for waiting weeks to discuss the events in Ferguson. Sharpton said Clinton and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential GOP presidential candidate, should not "get laryngitis on this issue."

Information for this article was contributed by Jim Salter and Haven Daley of The Associated Press.

A Section on 08/29/2014