DENVER (KDVR) — Dozens of people associated with the 2020 demonstrations against police brutality have filed federal lawsuits against Denver, alleging police officers used gas and projectiles against them while they peacefully participated in or observed the protests.
A total of 50 people filed two lawsuits on Monday in U.S. District Court in Colorado. The plaintiffs are represented in both suits by law firms Beem and Isley and Baumgartner Law.
In each lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege in identical language that they each were “injured in some way after being targeted, shot at, gassed, and/or fired upon, either indiscriminately as part of a group or specifically by the Defendant Officers because of their participation in, support of, observation or documentation of, and/or association with the peaceful protests and demonstrations against police misconduct and brutality.”
One of the lawsuits, representing 42 people, details how each person was targeted by tear gas or pepper balls or was wrongfully arrested.
In the second lawsuit, eight people detail how they suffered severe injuries during the demonstrations at the hands of police and their crowd-control weapons.
The plaintiffs ask for money to compensate for their injuries, policy changes, disciplinary action against city employees and “mandatory training designed to avoid future similar misconduct.”
The lawsuits are the latest in a number of legal actions filed against officers in response to the protests, including a man who nearly lost his finger during the demonstrations, a woman whose tear duct was severed and a man who lost his eye.