ACLU files second lawsuit to ban tear gas use by a law enforcement agency

INDIANAPOLIS — The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a second lawsuit Friday against an Indiana city for using force to deter citizens protesting police brutality and racial justice.

The ACLU of Indiana filed the latest lawsuit on behalf of individual protestors in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who allege the Fort Wayne Police Department, or FWPD, and officers with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department used tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray in several demonstrations.

The lawsuit demands law enforcement immediately stop using this force and also seeks damages for protestors who were subjected to the force amid protests that unfolded in Fort Wayne and around the country after a Black Minneapolis man, George Floyd, died when a police officer kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes.

“Police must not respond to protesters speaking out against police brutality with yet more brutality. We will not let these violent attacks on our constitutional rights go unchecked,” said Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana, in a statement. “Excessive use of force against protestors chills free speech, and widens the rift of distrust between communities and the police that are sworn to serve them.”

Read more: http://thestatehousefile.com/aclu-files-second-lawsuit-to-ban-tear-gas-use-by-a-law-enforcement-agency/42229/