Seven lawsuits alleging police misconduct were filed by protesters in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Thursday in what appears to be the first salvo of litigation.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota is preparing suits for 21 clients and conducting internal discussions about broader litigation. Lawyers for the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild anticipate at least 100 more people will be suing.
"I think there will be a lot of suits," said Joe Daly, a law professor at Hamline University. He said possible federal violations of protesters' rights could be at the core of the suits. "I think it will be a long, drawn-out battle," he said.
A class-action suit in New York City alleging police misconduct at the 2004 RNC remains unresolved, an indicator of what may face St. Paul, Ramsey County and Minneapolis. Rachel Bengston, vice president of the Lawyers Guild in Minnesota, said local litigation could take five to 10 years.
There were four days of protests and confrontations with police and 800 arrests. Ted Dooley, a St. Paul attorney who filed the seven suits Thursday, accused public officials of putting an "occupying army" on the streets during the Sept. 1-4 RNC, engaging in "a conspiracy to undermine the First Amendment rights to assemble and petition the government."
Told of Dooley's remarks, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said, "Mr. Dooley's comments are ridiculous. The tenor of the law enforcement actions was dictated by the behavior of the anarchists on day one of the convention." He said authorities had to respond to 500 anarchists who turned up to shut down the RNC.
Among Dooley's clients who filed suit is Michael Whalen, whose duplex was surrounded by St. Paul police on Aug. 30. He and some guests were held for several hours while police entered one side of the duplex, knocked down the door to get into the other side and tore heavy boxes that authorities thought might contain weapons, the suit alleged. The boxes held pamphlets promoting a vegan diet. Whalen was never charged, and no arrests were made. The suit says police had a warrant for the wrong side of the duplex and claimed Whalen had fled the house, which he had not.
Another suit alleges that Michelle Gross, a local activist, was strip-searched by a Ramsey County sheriff's deputy during a raid on a St. Paul building where anarchists were meeting on Aug. 29. The suit alleges that a female deputy, in the presence of men, reached under Gross' clothes and touched her under her bra. Fletcher said Thursday that Gross never filed a complaint and it was the first he'd heard of the incident.
Another suit by Dooley alleges that Mick Kelly, a protest leader, was struck by a projectile fired by police at a Sept. 4 protest, bruising his stomach.
St. Paul City Attorney John Choi said Thursday that he'd not yet reviewed the seven suits. If they involve St. Paul police, he said, they'll be forwarded to an insurance firm retained for claims under a $10 million insurance policy.
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