We Now Have Proof That It Was Stupid For Baton Rouge To Settle Any Alton Sterling Protest-Arrest Lawsuits

There’s a reason there are lots of signs in Yellowstone National Park admonishing people not to feed the bears. This relates to that

A federal lawsuit has been filed against the city of Baton Rouge on behalf of at least seven Baton Rouge residents.

The lawsuit filed by attorneys from the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans claims that arrests during protests were part of a pattern of “racist law enforcement” in the city. The factual grounds for the lawsuit go back to incidents that occurred in the 1970’s and progresses to current day.

“At no time has the BRPD ever undertaken to address the problems of racial profiling and overt racial animus on the part of members of the BRPD, even though there is evidence that some officers hold such animus,” states the lawsuit. “Instead, the BRPD, Chief Dababie and Mayor Holden chose to consciously disregard and cover up the prevalence of racist attitudes among BRPD officers.”

The historical context seeks to frame the arrests that happened during a protest that was held outside BRPD headquarters in July 2016 regarding the shooting death of Alton Sterling.

“…as the protests began, the defendants created a plan to intimidate the protestors through the use of violent, militarized police tactics,, which included the use of batons, riot shields, armored vehicles, and armed officers. The defendants set out to arrest the protestors without probable cause, using the pretext that the protestors had violated a state law proscribing obstruction of highways and public roads.”

There was another lawsuit last year – that was the one involving the ridiculous DeRay McKesson and a few of the outside agitators he brought with him in an effort to block interstate highways in Baton Rouge and were arrested for their trouble – which the Baton Rouge Metro Council agreed to settle. This was met with lots of complaints, for lots of reasons – for one thing, those protestors violated the law. For another, when the lawyers get a whiff of a free payday just for filing a stupid lawsuit there will never be an end to it.

And for a third thing, the Justice Department is about to announce that the policemen involved in Alton Sterling’s death didn’t violate any laws. Which means that, with lawsuits hanging over their heads, law enforcement in Baton Rouge will be constrained in what they will be able to do in order to keep the peace should a fresh round of unruly protesters take to the streets.

Which makes for a toxic mix ready-made for a riot – and maybe even some future paydays from the city-parish treasury for the hooligans participating in it.

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