CRIME & JUSTICE

Wednesday, April 14, 2004; Page B02

THE DISTRICT

Police sued: The Partnership for Civil Justice and National Lawyers Guild filed a federal lawsuit against the District and its police department yesterday on behalf of demonstrators who say they were assaulted in an April 2003 antiwar demonstration.

Marc Frucht, one of the plaintiffs, says that he was held on the ground by police as one officer clubbed him repeatedly on the head, an event videotaped by television crews. Sean Taft-Morales, another plaintiff, alleges in the suit that he was injured when police rushed and began attacking the crowd with clubs and fists as demonstrators marched on their permitted route.

In addition to damages, the lawsuit seeks a court injunction against the department's tactics against demonstrators. The suit alleges that the department uses motorcycles and bicycles as weapons to drive into demonstrators, uses police and cycle lines to flank marchers and prohibit people from leaving or joining demonstration activities, and uses a "rush tactic" to charge and assault assembled demonstrators.

Compiled from reports by staff writers.

lawsuit text (.pdf)
washington post
common dreams