Lawsuit alleges police bias at San Diego Trump demonstration
Two San Diego women have filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging police unlawfully cracked down on counterprotesters and Black Lives Matter activists at a Pacific Beach pro-Trump rally last month, while allowing Trump supporters to continue marching undisturbed.
In the lawsuit filed Friday in San Diego federal court, plaintiffs Mandy Lien and Erin Smith argue that police aggressively dispersed counterprotesters with batons or projectiles at the Jan. 9 demonstration, violating their civil rights and displaying bias in favor of mostly White and male supporters of former President Donald Trump.
The suit says officers “high-fived and chatted it up” with Trump supporters.
“SDPD then declared an ‘unlawful assembly’ against only those on the anti-Trump side, including Plaintiffs, and forced them to disperse under threat of arrest, while allowing the pro-Trump side to continue demonstrating in the exact same area, and to parade down the Pacific Beach boardwalk.”
The Union-Tribune reported that both sides had skirmished during the day, but police spokesman Lt. Shawn Takeuchi acknowledged the order to disperse applied only to counterprotesters, who he said threw bottles, rocks and eggs at officers. He said the behavior of the crowd dictated the officers’ actions. Three counterprotesters were arrested that day: two adults who police said failed to disperse and a juvenile accused of assaulting an officer.
Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/story/2021-02-06/lawsuit-alleges-police-bias-at-san-diego-trump-demonstration
