Trump-Appointed Judge Sides With Cops Who Brutalized DAPL Protesters

[douglas9]

Five years after police brutalized activists opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline, a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump has dismissed a lawsuit accusing North Dakota law enforcement officers of excessive use of force—a decision that critics have characterized as a tacit endorsement of the violent repression of climate justice advocates.

Several peaceful protesters who gathered at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to struggle against the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure were assaulted by law enforcement officers on November 20, 2016. Police sprayed demonstrators with water cannons amid sub-freezing temperatures that night, and according to the plaintiffs' lawyers, they also used tear gas and fired rubber bullets and exploding munitions "indiscriminately into the crowd."

Attorneys for law enforcement officers named as defendants, including Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier and Mandan Police Chief Jason Ziegler, "say officers were outnumbered and were concerned for their lives and safety," The Bismark Tribune reported Thursday. "They sought to have the protesters' legal claims dismissed."

"U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor issued the order granting their request Wednesday," the newspaper noted, "writing that 'the Court finds the undisputed and irrefutable evidence in this case could only lead a reasonable juror to conclude the officers' conduct in this case was objectively reasonable.'"

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/31/trump-appointed-judge-sides-cops-who-brutalized-dapl-protesters

[bucolic_frolic]

1. In my view judges have too much power to dismiss, and cannot speak for a hypothetical jury

Where there is physical evidence, more so.

[jimfields33]

2. It's a crap shoot

Many were happy when roger stones lawsuits were thrown out. The weird thing is why it’s been 5 years before a judge saw the case.