Standing Rock Court Victory: Excessive force lawsuit against Morton County moves forward

[douglas9]

On Thursday, September 10, 2020, in a long-awaited ruling, United States District Court Judge Daniel Traynor (District of North Dakota) allowed a lawsuit challenging law enforcement's 2016 use of fire hoses and munitions against water protectors opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to move forward with discovery. The case had been stalled for more than two years after Morton County and other defendants filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the case.

Plaintiff Vanessa Dundon is a member of the Navajo/ Diné Nation who was shot in the eye with a teargas canister while attempting to aid another person. "It's so good to hear that we have a chance of getting the justice we deserve, almost four years after we were brutalized on Backwater Bridge," says Vanessa. "I'm praying that this case continues to move forward to trial and I'm determined to keep fighting. My eye was seriously damaged. I've had three surgeries and will never get my full vision back. Mni Wiconi. Water is Life."

Dundon v. Kirchmeier is a federal civil rights class-action lawsuit filed by nine named plaintiffs on behalf of hundreds of #NoDAPL water protectors who were injured by law enforcement on the night of November 20, 2016. On that night, water protectors had peacefully assembled at Backwater Bridge on Route 1806 just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and within the boundaries of Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires, or Great Sioux Nation) treaty lands in North Dakota. Thousands of water protectors from many different Indigenous nations were camped nearby seeking to stop the pipeline from being built under the Missouri River, which is sacred to the Great Sioux Nation and a vital water source for Indigenous nations. Without giving any warnings or opportunity to disperse, officers fired on the unarmed water protectors with impact munitions, explosive flash-bang grenades, chemical weapons, and high-pressure water hoses in freezing temperatures for over eight hours. At least 200 water protectors were injured and dozens hospitalized.


https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2020/09/standing-rock-court-victory-excessive.html

[Bayard]

1. Good!