OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Arguments were heard this week in Omaha’s federal court in a lawsuit that accuses Omaha police of using excessive force when they responded earlier this year to protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska filed the lawsuit challenging police tactics that included firing pepper balls at protesters and making mass arrests during the protests in May, June and July.
On Tuesday, the ACLU asked for an injunction to keep Omaha police from arresting and using chemical agents such as pepper spray and tear gas on peaceful protesters, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
An attorney for the city argued that such an injunction would hamstring officers trying to keep order.
Much of Tuesday’s arguments focused mass arrests made near downtown Omaha on July 25, when more than 100 people who were peacefully protesting were detained and held for hours in crowded cells at a jail that was battling a COVID-19 outbreak. Afterward, city prosecutors dismissed most of the charges against protesters because of a lack of evidence.
U.S. District Senior Judge Joseph Bataillon will issue a ruling on the request for an injunction at a later date.
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