The multi million dollar legal battle in Ferguson is officially underway

In a $40 million federal lawsuit, five people arrested recently in Ferguson, Missouri, have accused the police of using "wanton and excessive force" and treating U.S. citizens "as if they were war combatants."

In a $40 million federal lawsuit, five people arrested recently in Ferguson, Missouri, have accused the police of using “wanton and excessive force” and treating U.S. citizens “as if they were war combatants.”

The lawsuit lists Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma, several unnamed officers and the city and county governments as defendants.

The multi-million dollar lawsuit “seeks heavy damages and compensation for victims of excessive force, false arrest and other Constitutional Rights violations at the hands of the militarized Ferguson Police Department…” A press conference by Black Lawyers for Justice is planned for August 28.

The complaint filed Thursday alleges that police officers from Ferguson and St. Louis County used unnecessary and excessive force and made unjustified arrests of innocent bystanders as they cracked down on protests after the shooting death of Micheal Brown earlier this month.

The suit details circumstances allegedly surrounding several arrests between August 11 and 13.

Belmar, the St. Louis County Police Chief, told reporters on Wednesday that he doesn’t regret his agency’s decisions to fire tear gas at protesters. That approach, he said, was much better than using nightsticks or dogs.

The five plaintiffs, including some who were not involved with the protests but encountered officers while eating out or walking home, said they were arrested violently, shot at with rubber bullets, and subjected to racial slurs.

“The police were completely out of control,” said attorney Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice. “In those initial days, it was virtually a police riot.”

Malik Zulu Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice, one of three legal groups representing the plaintiffs, said at a news conference outside the courthouse that other protesters could join the suit later, saying, “If they won’t police the people right, then we have to bankrupt them.”

In another Ferguson-related litigation story, the National Bar Association filed suit last week in state court.

Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed two civil lawsuits after protests in Ferguson, claiming that protestors’ First and Fourteenth Amendments were violated during the protests in Ferguson.