September 1st Press Conference on Shepard Road to Announce RNC08 Class Action Suit!

PRESS CONFERENCE

Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Time: 12:30pm - 1:00pm
Location: Mass Arrest Site
Street: Shepard Road and Chestnut Street
City/Town: Saint Paul, MN


On September 1, 2009, at 12:30 p.m., a press conference will be held in the park area near the intersection of Shepard Road and Chestnut Street in St. Paul, Minnesota, to announce the filing of a class-action civil rights lawsuit against the City of St. Paul and its law enforcement officials. The plaintiffs claim that the City violated their constitutional rights when on September 1, 2008, law enforcement officers acting under the direction of the City ordered the mass arrest of over 200 persons at the site of this press conference. Police officers, using chemical irritants and non-lethal ammunition, rounded up all citizens on Shepard Road and corralled them into park land where they were placed under arrest. Many of the arrestees were taken to jail where they were held up to 72 hours; none of the plaintiffs were convicted of crimes.

The plaintiffs charge that the City had no probable cause to arrest everyone on Shepard Road and that the use of chemical irritants and non-lethal ammunition was excessive. Law enforcement officers did not give dispersal orders. Rather, officials ordered the arrest of all persons on Shepard Rd. as part of a City policy to isolate and contain political expression hostile to the Republican National Convention.

Attending the press conference will be the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and their attorneys. Copies of the Complaint and video footage of the mass arrest are available upon request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: please call plaintiffs’ attorneys Robert Kolstad (612-721-3425), David L. Shulman (612-870-7410), or Travis Snider (612-872-1200).

-- CRASS (Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure)