Three individuals who were on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a class-action lawsuit Friday in Florida seeking damages related to the use of force by police officers during the attack.
The federal lawsuit alleges police “physically assaulted members of the crowd” that assembled on the Capitol’s west-side outdoor terrace and grounds.
The Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department were “indiscriminately shooting chemical munitions and pepper spray into a crowd of thousands of people,” the lawsuit states. “The police also used Billy Clubs, including strikes to the head, and other means of excessive force that caused injury to the plaintiffs and class members.”
The lawsuit includes broad generalizations of the day that cut against the reality of the attack, including a statement that “no one intentionally harmed any officers.”
On the day of the attack, a mob of rioters violently stormed the Capitol in Donald Trump’s name to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. On Capitol grounds, members of the crowd assaulted officers, overwhelmed police, battled their way into the Capitol building, destroyed property and sent lawmakers fleeing in fear.
The lawsuit sought to draw a distinction between members of the crowd who confronted officers by a bike fence line and other attendees further back.
The “munitions” that were launched into the crowd were not directed at the individuals pushing on the fence line, the lawsuit states. Instead, authorities were “shooting indiscriminately into the crowd further back in an area with peaceful protesters.”
The plaintiffs asked the court to certify the case as a class action, and the lawsuit identified dozens of potential class members, including former criminal defendants who faced charges because of the attack.
The lawsuit also asked the court to issue a judgment declaring that Capitol Police and the MPD “assaulted and battered protesters on the west side of the U.S. Capitol building.”
The lawsuit is also a touchpoint in broader efforts to recast the assault on the Capitol, which the Trump administration has downplayed during his second term. Trump, on his first day back in office, pardoned nearly all the rioters charged in connection to the 2021 attack.
In the aftermath of the sweeping clemency order, some members of Congress expressed a mix of frustration, fear and outrage at a string of Capitol Hill appearances from figures associated with the 2021 attack.
