Judge Throws Out Black Lives Matter Lawsuit Against Ferguson
The protesters “have completely failed to present any credible evidence that any of the actions taken by these individuals were taken with malice or were committed in bad faith.”
10.4.2016
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A federal judge has dismissed a $41.5 million lawsuit filed against police by a group of Black Lives Matter protesters from Ferguson, Missouri, who charged that officials violated their civil rights during the 2014 riots in the St. Louis suburb.
Ruling that the protesters “have completely failed to present any credible evidence that any of the actions taken by these individuals were taken with malice or were committed in bad faith,” U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey agreed with motions to dismiss filed by officials from St. Louis County and the City of Ferguson, .
According to Breitbart, the judge noted that Ferguson police issued numerous warnings to the protesters to disperse, not to mention warnings that arrests would be made if crowds persisted; therefore the protesters were fully informed about what was about to happen.
Autrey also said that many of the claims in the lawsuit could not be substantiated by video evidence or, in many cases, even eyewitness testimony.
In one case, for example, plaintiff Tracey White claimed that police roughed her up inside a McDonald’s and used racial epithets in the process of arresting her. Video evidence, however, showed she was arrested on the street a full block away from the restaurant, and in his ruling Judge Autrey disputed even her testimony:
She agreed that video showed an officer placing hand ties on her, and that she was not on the ground, and that there was no knee in her back. No racial epithets or slurs were used against Tracey White.
White’s testimony was but one of a long list of claims the judge found to be wholly without merit as he summarily rejected the lawsuit.
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