FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Several protesters are putting their pain on display by suing the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, years after being injured during the George Floyd protests.
Four years after a protest in Fort Lauderdale took an ugly and violent turn, a federal civil rights action has been filed against the City of Fort Lauderdale and its police department.
“This is about making sure what that happened four years ago, never happens again,” said Public Communicators Group Evan Ross.
“We are standing on the corner where, four years ago, lawful citizens were assembled to protest police brutality,” said Attorney Michael T. Davis.
Following the death of George Floyd, protesters across the country took to the streets to push back against police brutality. One of those protests took place in Fort Lauderdale and it turned into a standoff between the protesters and law enforcement.
“I came to peacefully protest and tear-gassed without warning and forced to leave,” Mike Gablus, a plaintiff in the class action lawsuit.
Critics of the police response said it was the officers who escalated the situation.
“On May 31, 2020, it was not the protesters but the Fort Lauderdale Police who initiated the violence that occurred right in this intersection,” said Ross.
One of the speakers at the news conference was a woman who filed her own lawsuit against the police department two years ago after she claimed she was shot with a rubber bullet during the protests.
Days after that protest, she spoke to 7News as she recovered from her injuries.
“It’s still very, I can’t focus, if I try to utilize my right eye, I can’t see anything. The vision’s very blurry,” said LaToya Ratlieff.
Ratlieff urged others to join the class action lawsuit if they feel their rights were violated.
“If you were forced to leave the protest because of tear gas and rubber bullets your rights were violated. If you suffered abuses from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department that day, your rights were violated,” she said.
Ross said there has been no accountability for the officers involved in this protest dispute.
“There has been no accountability within the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, not one officer has faced internal discipline for their actions despite overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing,” said Ross.
7News has reached out to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and they said that they do not comment on pending litigation.
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