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After hundreds of protestors were arrested days after Mr. Sterling’s death, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the Baton Rouge Police Dept. for violating some protestors’ right to gather peacefully. In a statement released July 15, the ACLU said, “The police were violently aggressive and showed little restraint and poor judgment in terms of who they arrested.”
“My father always taught me to fear no one,” Aaliyah said of being arrested. “I was very surprised that the police did all that just for us. I was handcuffed and put in the back of a police car.” She spoke of not having fear, but distrust of police after her ordeal. And she has not been deterred from protesting again because she argues her dad could have easily been Alton Sterling. Among harsher charges against police are accusations of excessive force and physical and verbal abuse.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society of Baton Rouge—an affiliate of the National Bar Association, and the National Lawyers Guild of Southern University Law Center at Baton Rouge announced July 11 that they have joined forces to provide pro-bono legal services to peaceful protesters arrested while exercising their right to call for justice in the Sterling death.
Dorian Spence of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said, “The right to protest is sacred. The right to protest and your right to have your voice heard and call for justice is at the cornerstone of American democracy. If people have a fear of making their voice heard, or feel they can’t protest because they will be arrested and put in the legal system, or they don’t have the money for an attorney, that kills the exercise of free speech (First Amendment).”
Abdullah Muflahi, owner of Triple S Food Mart where Mr. Sterling died in the parking lot, filmed a second video of the altercation with police. A lawsuit was filed against the Baton Rouge Police Department for infringing on his civil rights. The petition states Blane Salamoni, the officer cited as Mr. Sterling’s shooter entered Triple S without a warrant, confiscated the store’s entire security system and took Mr. Muflahi into custody. The document also states other officers took his cell phone and held him in the back of a police car for four hours, not allowing him to call his family or his lawyer. Mr. Muflahi, brought to tears while speaking about Mr. Sterling at his funeral, said he wasn’t even allowed to properly relieve himself that night. He wasn’t allowed to go back into his own establishment and was forced to relieve himself on the side of his building in public view, he said. The lawsuit also claims he was driven to the Louisiana State Police Headquarters and illegally detained for an additional two hours. Mr. Muflahi’s attorney, Joel Porter, said officers had no consent to search his client’s business, seize his property, or detain him.
The Baton Rouge Police Department has a history of brutality, especially against Black people. Even officers have reported the racist and corrupt behavior of their colleagues. One official report came from a Michigan state trooper who relocated to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. He alleged Baton Rouge police officers offered to let him beat an incarcerated prisoner as thanks for his work.
“This is nothing but modern day slavery,” said protestor Sherry Clark. “All this talk about our rights being violated … well, what rights do we really have? The laws weren’t made for us,” she said. “They weren’t thinking of us when they said we have a right to bear arms, if they were, Philando Castile would be alive,” she said of the 32-year-old Black man killed by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop. The shooting victim had a legal right to carry a weapon and his fiancée said he told the officer he was reaching for his ID but did have a weapon.
Now that the Justice Dept. has stepped in, some concerned Baton Rouge residents expect a promised fair, just, and an impartial investigation.