Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson sued Baton Rouge today over his arrest last month at a protest of a black man fatally shot during a struggle with two white police officers, The Associated Press reports.
Mckesson was among nearly 200 protesters arrested in Baton Rouge following the July 5 shooting death of 37-year-old Alton Sterling.
A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court on behalf of Mckesson and two other arrested protesters accuses the city and police officials of violating the protestors’ civil rights and using excessive force.
The suit says police responded in a “militarized and aggressive manner,” advancing against protesters while wearing military gear and gas masks and brandishing assault weapons alongside armored vehicles. Officers threatened peaceful protesters by pointing their weapons directly at them, according to the suit.
“Defendants used excessive force in attacking, battering, beating, and assaulting plaintiffs and class members without provocation or the need for defense,” the suit says.
Sterling’s death was captured on cellphone video and circulated widely on the internet. His death, along with another fatal police shooting in Minnesota, sparked widespread protests. The fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas by a black sniper heightened tensions even more, followed by the death of three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge.
Mckesson, of Baltimore, was arrested July 9 near police headquarters on a charge of obstructing a highway. District Attorney Hillar Moore III announced that Mckesson is one of roughly 100 arrested protesters who will not be prosecuted by his office.
