The death of Alton Sterling sparked protests in Baton Rouge in Louisiana, many locals took to the street to voice concern at police brutality and they themselves became subject to excessive force.
Now that has been recognised as truth and the state and local authorities have been ordered to payout $100,000.
The state was accused of using excessive force and violating the civil rights of protesters.
Atlanta Black Star reported:
The Baton Rouge Metro Council moved on Nov. 23 to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by arrested protesters and agreed to have four agencies compensate prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson and the other plaintiffs to the tune of roughly $100,000.
The city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana State Police, the District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office will each be required to pay no more than $25,000 to the demonstrators, per the terms of the agreement. Officials said the settlement price is significantly lower than what the city would have to pay if just one of the 92 plaintiffs took them to court and won.
Parish Attorney Lea Anne Batson told The Advocate each protester will be paid about $230. The rest of the $25,000 to be paid by the city-parish will cover the activists’ bonding fees, legal fees and the cost to eliminate the arrests from their permanent records.
Plaintiffs in the class-action suit asserted that police converged on them in all-out military gear, wielded assault-style weapons and sometimes even pointed those weapons directly at peaceful protesters.
East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III said he would refrain from prosecuting McKesson and others who were detained on misdemeanor counts of blocking a highway. However, protesters said they were forced to pay substantial arrest fees in order to be released.
The settlement has not calmed all activists, many of whom still want justice for the shooting of Alton Sterling. He was killed by two cops ad they are still being investigated by the DOJ.
Read more ABS.
0 Comments