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US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
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Jason Munley's back after being hit
repeatedly with pepper balls
after obeying officers' orders.
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit on September 21, 2010, on behalf of 25 people who were swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers, and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh hours after the G-20 Summit ended on September 25, 2009. The ACLU argues that police illegally disrupted a peaceful gathering and arrested people who were trying to obey a police order to disperse. The lawsuit alleges police used excessive force during the arrests, gratuitously squirting people with pepper spray and shooting them with pepper-ball bullets. Those arrested were held overnight in tight handcuffs, with some forced to sit outside for hours in the cold and rain in the prison courtyard.
On January 10, 2012, the city of Pittsburgh has agreed to pay $88,000 to settle the claims of 11 of the 24 individuals who sued the City of Pittsburgh after being swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers, and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh hours after the G-20 Summit ended on September 25, 2009. The claims of the remaining 13 plaintiffs who rejected the settlement offer will go forward.
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