See media handout materials, including video of the press conference, in Related Links section below.
The plaintiffs claim that the City violated their constitutional rights when on September 1, 2008, law enforcement officers acting under the direction of the City ordered the mass arrest of over 200 persons at the site of this press conference.
Police officers, using chemical irritants and non-lethal ammunition, rounded up all citizens on Shepard Road and corralled them into park land where they were placed under arrest. Many of the arrestees were taken to jail where they were held up to 72 hours; none of the plaintiffs were convicted of crimes.
The plaintiffs charge that the City had no probable cause to arrest everyone on Shepard Road and that the use of chemical irritants and non-lethal ammunition was excessive. Law enforcement officers did not give dispersal orders. Rather, officials ordered the arrest of all persons on Shepard Rd. as part of a City policy to isolate and contain political expression hostile to the Republican National Convention.
Attending the press conference will be the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and their attorneys. Copies of the Complaint and video footage of the mass arrest are available upon request.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: please call plaintiffs’ attorneys Robert Kolstad (612-721-3425), David L. Shulman (612-870-7410), or Travis Snider (612-872-1200).
Related Links
MEDIA HANDOUT MATERIALS
Text: Class Action Lawsuit against St. Paul Police Department for Shepard Road Mass Arrest (September 1st, 2009)
Day 1 Footage: Shepard Road compilation for anniversary press conference: Media handout for class action suit for Day 1 mass arrest, Camera: CCTV and various independent cameras, Various Sources (September 1st, 2008)
Download an MPEG-4 file of the press conference footage directly here (right click)
Video & Audio: Shepard Road press conference to announce class action lawsuit, Nigel Parry, RNC 08 Report (September 1st, 2009)
Video & Audio: Labor Day in the Park: Indiscriminate mass arrest of more than 200 people, Edit: Tom Smyth with Vlad T and Dan F, Glass Bead Collective (September 1st, 2008)
All Shepard Road mass arrest material on the RNC '08 Report website
Download the documentary Terrorizing Dissent for Creative Commons RNC footage that can be freely used with attribution - Segment 1 has the Shepard Road segment.
In Depth: Mass Arrests and the Heffelfinger-Luger Report, Nigel Parry, RNC 08 Report (January 27th, 2009) - puts the Shepard Road mass arrest in context, and includes scans of police reports describing the incident as a "mass arrest".
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