ArchCity Defenders Files Federal Suit Against St. Louis Police

ST. LOUIS, MO — ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy group based in St. Louis, has filed suit against the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department on the one-year anniversary of a mass arrest that swept up protesters, journalists and bystanders alike, the St. Louis American reports. The allegations presented in 12 separate lawsuits include arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate use of chemical irritants, and a controversial tactic known as "kettling," where protesters are asked to disperse then prevented from doing so and arrested en masse.

One of the people named in the suits is Air Force Lt. Alex Nelson. He and his wife were walking near their apartment when police arrested them last year. Nelson says he was kicked, sprayed with chemical irritants, and mocked by police despite complying with their orders.

Another, Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk, who has since left the paper, said he was tackled and pepper sprayed despite wearing a prominent press badge.

"I suffer from paranoid, traumatic thoughts, and I don't feel safe around St. Louis police," he told the Riverfront Times in June.

The plaintiffs also include a photographer who says police destroyed more than $6,000 worth of his equipment, another Air Force officer who says he was beaten and held in an overcrowded cell, and others.

“Many of our clients are still suffering the effects of what happened to them,” attorney Javad Khazaeli told the American. “Everybody who watches the video should realize that these people were doing absolutely nothing wrong. And if the police were allowed to kettle, pepper-spray and beat compliant citizens who have their hands up and are sitting on the ground, then anybody can be at risk.”

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The American Civil Liberties Union has also filed suit against St. Louis police. As part of that suit, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in November that police are forbidden from using chemicals like mace or pepper spray to shut down non-violent protests or to punish protesters and must immediately take steps to protect the constitutional rights of protesters, observers and bystanders.

That case is scheduled to go to trial next October, two years after the arrests. The judge has said the ACLU's case is likely to succeed on the merits.

Read more from the St. Louis American.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images