Standing Rock Police Violence Lawsuit Moves Toward Trial
By Water Protector Legal Collective. Dundon v. Kirchmeier is a federal civil rights class action lawsuit challenging police violence on the night of November 20-21, 2016, at Backwater Bridge near the water protector camps and the site of the DAPL pipeline just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. The case was filed on November 28, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota by nine named plaintiffs on behalf of everyone who was injured by law enforcement that night. “American Indians have felt the sharp end of a sword and the blunt end of a projectile too often in this country’s history. The brutal and militarized police violence on Backwater Bridge on November 20, 2016, should not have happened and must never happen again. The preliminary injunction is denied, but we will continue our fight for a permanent injunction and to ensure that the State pays for their indiscriminate use of excessive force,” said WPLC Executive Director Terry Janis.