ST. LOUIS (AP/KMOX) - St. Louis police are asking a judge to lift restrictions on their ability to use pepper spray and other chemical agents to break up protests.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that lawyers for police filed a 39-page motion Friday in federal court. At issue is a preliminary injunction issued in November 2017 after the ACLU sued on behalf of protesters.
The cash-strapped city could face costly jury judgements in a wave of 21 federal lawsuits that have been filed over police arrests during Stockley protesters.
Attorney Javad Khazaeli says if juries find the police used excessive force and pepper spray on innocent protesters, the damages could run into the tens-of-millions of dollars.
"Under these provisions of the federal Civil Rights Act, we could ask for punitive damages; and that's an unlimited cap that a jury could give," Khazaeli said. "And also if we prevail, we have the right to ask for attorney fees."
Right now, the city sets aside $3 million a year to handle lawsuits against its police department, but the city budget has been so tight, it struggles to pick up the trash on time.
The firm Khazaeli and Wyrsch expects the lawsuits to take up to two years to work their way through the federal courts.
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