Woman Filing Lawsuit Vs. Denver Police Over 2020 Protests Says She Was 'Dazed' After Rubber Ball Grenade Hit Her In The Face
(CBS4) - The Denver Police Department and the city have been hit with another round of lawsuits, accusing officers of using excessive force on protestors during the summer of 2020 as people took to the street after the murder of George Floyd calling for justice. These lawsuits come nearly two years after those initial protests.
"They disrupted my peace that day when my personal space was invaded," said Lindsay Minter, who is a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits. "My guard wasn't up I wasn't ready to be attacked."
It's still difficult for Minter to discuss what happened to her on May 30, 2020. Minter was protesting in Denver when she said she was hit by a rubber-ball style grenade by police while walking to her car.
"I was hit in the face," Minter said. "It was painful, and I was dazed, and I didn't know what was going on at first."
Mari Newman, Minter's attorney, said police targeted her using excessive force, violating her First Amendment rights.
"Denver's continued to say 'we did nothing wrong,' Newman said. "They have continued to condone the outrageous misconduct of officers."
And Minter isn't the only one going after the department. This week at least three other lawsuits were filed against Denver police, all related to the protests. This comes weeks after a dozen of activists won a lawsuit against the force and were awarded $14 million.
"Well there's a statute of limitations of two years to file these types of civil rights lawsuits," Newman said.
Minter hopes these lawsuits send a clear message that police accountability is necessary and critical.
"We need change that controls the way that this operates," she said, "because if they don't have a plan if they don't get their stuff together, this is going to happen over and over and our city is going to suffer even more than it is."
We reached out to the city, the city attorney and Denver police about the Minter lawsuit and others, but a spokesperson with the city said they have not been served with Minter's lawsuit yet, and told CBS4 to check back after the holiday weekend.