GW Law School student Justin Jones, a legal observer during Monday’s protests, said he was stripped of his civil rights when Metropolitan Police jailed him for parading without a permit.
Although his case stands out because he is the first National Lawyer’s Guild legal observer ever to be arrested on duty, hundreds of other protesters are preparing to file lawsuits against MPD for their treatment of protesters last weekend, Lawyer’s Guild officials said.
The Lawyer’s Guild, established in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, provides legal observers at D.C. protests.
Lawyer’s Guild observers will serve as witnesses in upcoming lawsuits that charge that MPD arrested people for exercising their legal right to stand on a public sidewalk and failed to inform them of their rights.
Hundreds of people had their civil rights ignored, said Zak Wolfe, a third-year GW Law School student and member of the Lawyer’s Guild. It’s perfectly legal to walk down the sidewalk.
Hundreds of people were arrested on the corner of 19th and L streets, even though only five or six people were actually breaking the law by standing on the street, Wolfe said.
Jones said he was caught in a similar situation.
As he walked on the sidewalk 15 feet behind a group of about 60 protesters headed toward the Ellipse Monday morning, Jones said Metropolitan Police officers, dressed in riot gear, surrounded the mob and handcuffed him along with everyone in the area. Jones said he was wearing his identifying hat and badge and was jotting down notes on the group’s activity when the police arrived on the corner of 17th and M streets.
We were out there with yellow hats, and they knew what we were there for, said Jones, who failed to convince officers that he was not breaking any laws.
Jones said he was forced to sit on a bus for more than an hour before he was taken to a cell at 501 New York Ave. Police officers told him he would be able to pay the $50 fine and still schedule a court date to appeal his arrest. But Jones said, after he spent five hours sitting in a cell with excrement spread on the walls and ceiling, he was given two options: pay the fine and leave with a permanent record or sit and wait for his day in court.
Confused about his rights, Jones said he paid his fine and left.
I basically forfeited my rights because I was misinformed about my rights, he said.
The Lawyer’s Guild attempted to contact MPD Chief Charles H. Ramsey about the alleged violation but have received no response, Wolfe said.
The hundreds of people who have contacted the Lawyer’s Guild about civil rights violations last weekend could file suit with the Justice Department in the next two weeks, Wolfe said.
