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Alderwoman sues St. Louis police over 'unlawful' tear gas use

Alderwoman Megan E. Green's lawsuit claims the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department "has a pattern and practice of indiscriminately using illegal chemical munitions, such as tear gas and pepper spray, without warning."
Credit: Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Police deploy tear gas on protestors during a demonstration on November 24, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri.

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis alderwoman is accusing the city’s police department of unlawfully using tear gas on her and a crowd of others after the Jason Stockley verdict—and now she’s filing suit.

Alderwoman Megan E. Green’s lawsuit claims the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department “has a pattern and practice of indiscriminately using illegal chemical munitions, such as tear gas and pepper spray, without warning.”

Green said she was one of many people—including clergy, local residents, journalists and citizens exercising their First Amendment rights—who were unlawfully tear gassed the night of September 15, 2017. She said she was in the Central West End trying to go home when an armored SLMPD vehicle drove by and tear gassed her. She said it caused her “significant and persistent physical harm.”

Alderwoman Green said she’s pursuing the lawsuit for a couple different reasons.

This is the second time she’s been the victim of the police department’s tear-gassing tactics "to punish peaceful protesters" a news release stated. Green said the first time was in 2014 when she and several others were directed into a coffee shop and tear gassed. After that, she said St. Louis promised to not use those kinds of tactics again.

Credit: Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images
Police fire canisters of tear gas as demonstrators protest the death of 18-year-old unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, who was shot to death by a white police officer, in Ferguson on November 24, 2014.

Green also said she's filing suit because her position as an elected official could create change.

Green plans to donate any damages she receives to a racial equity fund, which the Ferguson Commission recommended to the city, but hasn’t yet been created, a news release stated.

“Justice takes many forms,” Alderwoman Green said. “One is the City complying with the Constitution. One is the creation of a racial equity fund, a call to action from the Ferguson Commission. This lawsuit could do both.”

Civil rights law firm Khazaeli Wyrsch filed the lawsuit on behalf of Green. She’s the Ward 15 alderwoman, which covers the Tower Grove East and Tower Grove South neighborhoods.

Read the full lawsuit here

RELATED: St. Louis, police facing 12 new lawsuits over Stockley protest arrests

Green's lawsuit is just the latest filed against the city and police department for what happened during the Stockley protests.

A dozen new lawsuits were filed last week on the anniversary of the verdict against the city of St. Louis and multiple members of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The plaintiffs say they were assaulted and illegally arrested during the protests.

In a press release, ArchCity Defenders and the law firm of Khazaeli Wyrsch said they filed 12 lawsuits on behalf of people who said they were illegally treated by police officers during protests after the Jason Stockley decision on the night of September 17, 2017.

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