A lawsuit alleging excessive force against 2020 protesters in Oregon has
been settled, ACLU says
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[January 22, 2025]
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A lawsuit alleging that law enforcement agents
sent by President Donald Trump to protect a federal courthouse in 2020
used excessive force against racial justice protesters has been settled,
the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon said Tuesday.
The settlement requires the federal government to compensate the
individuals who filed the lawsuit for the injuries that federal law
enforcement caused them, in exchange for the individuals’ agreement to
dismiss the lawsuit, according to a news release from the ACLU. No
information was released about specific compensation amounts.
The plaintiffs included three military veterans, a college professor,
several Black Lives Matter activists and a man who alleges that
unidentified agents snatched him off a street for no reason blocks from
the federal courthouse.
“We are proud to have represented our courageous clients," ACLU of
Oregon's legal director, Kelly Simon, said in the news release. “They
suffered serious injuries because of federal law enforcement’s unlawful,
aggressive actions, and it is just and fair that they are being
compensated.”
Thousands of protesters in Portland took to the streets for months in
2020 following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in
Minneapolis, part of a wave of nationwide protests. They at times
clashed with police, and militarized federal agents were sent to the
city to quell the demonstrations.
The lawsuit alleged that federal agents in Portland exceeded the limits
of their authority, making illegal arrests and using tear gas, rubber
bullets, pepper spray and other tactics to squelch the protests. Almost
all of the plaintiffs alleged physical injuries and some were treated at
hospitals, the lawsuit said.
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Police use chemical irritants and crowd control munitions to
disperse protesters during a demonstration against police violence
and racial injustice in Portland, Ore., Sept. 5, 2020, sparked by
the killing of George Floyd. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
A video of plaintiff and Navy veteran Christopher David’s encounter
with U.S. agents outside the Portland courthouse circulated widely
on social media. It showed one agent hitting David with a baton and
another dousing him in the face with pepper spray. David suffered
two broken bones in his hand.
The lawsuit also alleged that the then-acting director of the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, did not have the
authority to send more than 100 agents to Portland because he was
improperly appointed. Wolf abruptly resigned from the post in 2021,
saying he was compelled to leave by “recent events,” including court
rulings that found he could not legally hold the position.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security directed a
request for comment about the settlement on Tuesday to the
Department of Justice, which didn't respond.
A federal investigative report later found that the militarized
federal agents didn't have the proper training or equipment and
there was no plan for operating without the help of local police.
Local police arrested hundreds of people over the three months of
protest and federal agents arrested nearly 100 people at the height
of the demonstrations.
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