Excerpt from Censored News. Read the story here.
A federal appeals court heard arguments in the class action lawsuit filed for excessive force at Backwater Bridge at Standing Rock, North Dakota, by water protectors who suffered critical injuries. The issues argued include whether the use of munitions, bean bags filled with shot, and water sprayed on water protectors in temperatures below freezing, were justified or legal.
Rachel Lederman, lead counsel for water protectors, told the Eighth Circuit Appeals Court’s three-member panel of judges, that the district court based its decision in favor of law enforcement on issues that are disputed.
Lederman, an attorney with the Center for Protest Law and Litigation, said that a jury should decide whether it was objectionably reasonable for officers to bombard hundreds of individuals with high-pressure water hoses, impact munitions, explosives, and chemical agents for ten hours, causing serious injuries, for the people that were allegedly causing problems.
“The story defendants have put forth to justify their use of force is hotly disputed.”
Lederman said the plaintiffs suffered serious injuries, including broken bones, and detached retina. Hundreds needed medical attention. There was no evidence that any of the plaintiffs threw anything or were threatening in any way — but they were hit in parts of the body that constitute deadly force, such as the head, chest, and groin.