2020 Charges Refiled by the City of Detroit Against Protesters of Police Murder
The City of Detroit is targeting Detroit Will Breathe leadership and civil rights litigation plaintiffs.
In early May 2021, the City of Detroit refiled charges against six activists who were arrested, and several of them brutalized, at a protest on July 10, 2020.
Featured photo with this post was taken by Adam J. Dewey on July 10, 2020.
Four Detroit Will Breathe v City of Detroit plaintiffs, who had their criminal cases dismissed without prejudice from summer 2020 protests, and two other protesters, are being charged again by the City of Detroit. The charges are misdemeanor Loitering and Interfering with Government Employees.
All of the refiled cases are from July 10, 2020. On that day, the Detroit Police Department killed Hakim Littleton, a young Black man. Neighbors and activists came out to San Juan and McNichols (6 Mile) to protest where the police had executed young Hakim earlier that day. The Detroit Police responded violently to the protest and targeted Detroit Will Breathe leaders.
Photo by Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Coordinated Defense Criminal Representation Team, led by the National Lawyers Guild, represents the people violently arrested while protesting against the tragic Hakim Littleton shooting death. The civil rights lawsuit Detroit Will Breathe vs City of Detroit cites specific instances of July 10, 2020 police brutality against protesters, and has enjoined the City from such tactics against protesters since early September 2020.
Tristan Taylor, a Detroit Will Breathe organizer and named plaintiff in the lawsuit, has 8 pending cases from summer 2020 in Detroit. The City Law Department has practically stated that it will continue to prosecute Tristan, while all the other cases were dismissed, because he made himself known as a leader. Tristan’s arrests include July 10, 2020.
On July 10, 2020, when activists, neighbors, and family began protesting, the police, in riot gear, were extremely violent to the assembled people. They tear-gassed the crowd; rammed and swung their batons and shields into people’s bodies and heads; put Detroit Will Breathe organizer Nakia Wallace in a chokehold; sent Zachary Kolodziej to the hospital with multiple injuries; and attacked the other people they arrested on the asphalt. A Detroit police officer hit a Black woman protester in the stomach and ribs with a baton and shield, causing her to miscarry. The pregnant woman and her husband (block club president and City appointee, respectively) were protesting the police killing of Hakim Littleton in their neighborhood.
Photo by Adam J. Dewey
Detroit police also responded with violence against Black Lives Matter protesters in late May, June 2020, and August 2020.
On July 7, 2021, Deadline Detroit published an article about the police response to the July 10, 2020 protest: “I 'f---ed everybody up:' Body camera footage gives new glimpse into Detroit police protest response” Read the article, which includes video, HERE.
Detroit Coordinated Defense attorneys who represent the July 10, 2020 protesters against whom the City has refiled, immediately requested discovery from the City Attorney (who claimed for months during the original cases that they’d already provided everything they had). The City has turned up several more police bodycam videos. Upcoming court appearances will be via Zoom on Thursday, September 23, 2021 and various dates in October 2021.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Photo by Adam J. Dewey