Jan. 6 Participants File $18M Suit Over Police Force

Three individuals who participated in the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, filed a class action lawsuit Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, seeking more than $18 million in damages from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C. The suit alleges that law enforcement officers used excessive and indiscriminate force against people gathered on the Capitol grounds, causing physical and emotional injuries.

The lawsuit, filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, names Patrick Sullivan and Marie Sullivan of Citrus County, Florida, and Alan E. Fischer III of Tampa as lead plaintiffs. It claims that officers deployed tear gas, chemical irritants such as pepper spray, rubber bullets, flashbangs, stingball grenades, pepper balls, and other munitions without adequate warnings or distinction between those engaged in confrontations and others further back in the crowd. According to the complaint, these actions included physical assaults with billy clubs, including strikes to the head, and continued for over an hour on the west side terrace and grounds of the Capitol. The plaintiffs assert that the crowd...