A federal judge on Friday ordered police in Columbus, Ohio, to stop using force against nonviolent protesters in the city as part of a preliminary injunction that denounced tactics of officers who the judge said ran “amok” against demonstrators following George Floyd’s death last summer in Minneapolis.
In an 88-page opinion, Judge Algenon L. Marbley of the Southern District of Ohio described the physical violence, tear gas and pepper spray used by Columbus police as “the sad tale of officers, clothed with the awesome power of the state, run amok.”
Marbley said that authorities often used force “random and indiscriminately” against peaceful protesters in Columbus without provocation.
Marbley’s ruling favored 26 plaintiffs who sued the city after taking part in the demonstrations last summer, alleging that officers responded to protesters who posed no threat of violence with excessive use of force. The lawsuit, which was filed last July, alleged that officers used pepper spray and tear gas and assaulted protesters with a sound cannon, batons, and rubber and wooden bullets.
Marbley ruled that a “mountain of evidence” showed some protesters were targeted and confronted with “less-lethal munitions” while trying to follow police orders to leave the demonstrations, walk away or sit on the sidewalk.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/05/01/columbus-police-protests-ruling/
Strong decision in favor of the American people's rights to assemble and peacefully protest.
Bonus: any judge named Algenon is ok in my book.