Black Assistant Attorney General was Just Another NGHR at a Protest to White Des Moines Cops. Suit says Cops pepper-sprayed, tackled him and Falsely Arrested, Incarcerated Him Outside His House

From [HERE] The latest lawsuit accusing Des Moines police of using unnecessary and unlawful force during protests in 2020 comes from another law enforcement official: an assistant Iowa attorney general.

Paxton Williams, who represents the state in income and tax cases as an attorney for the revenue division in the Attorney General's Office, is suing the city, the police department and multiple officers for what he says were their actions against him on the night of June 1, 2020.

Williams, who also is president of the Iowa National Bar Association, a professional group for Black attorneys, is representing himself in the case.

According to his complaint, he participated in a June 1 protest march in response to the arrest of Des Moines Register journalist Andrea Sahouri while she was covering a protest the night before, as well as other "reports of questionable and unlawful police tactics."

The June 1 protest took place on and around the grounds of the Iowa Capitol. Williams says he was standing on the sidewalk outside his East Village residence, which is a few blocks away from the Capitol, when police approached and, without warning or ordering him to disperse, pepper-sprayed and tackled him. Williams was arrested and cited for failure to disperse and spent the night at the Polk

Williams says he and a co-worker had walked with the crowd to the Capitol, where the protest was "overwhelmingly peaceful," until police "without warning" began using what he considered to be unjustified force against protestors.

He "was shocked that law enforcement officers would instigate such violence and escalate it by chasing after individuals, using tear-gas, rubber-bullets, pepper-spray, and tackling, arresting or otherwise detaining individuals who had simply been excising their Iowa and federal constitutional rights," according to the complaint.

Williams says he and a co-worker had walked with the crowd to the Capitol, where the protest was "overwhelmingly peaceful," until police "without warning" began using what he considered to be unjustified force against protestors.

He "was shocked that law enforcement officers would instigate such violence and escalate it by chasing after individuals, using tear-gas, rubber-bullets, pepper-spray, and tackling, arresting or otherwise detaining individuals who had simply been excising their Iowa and federal constitutional rights," according to the complaint.

Williams says he was afraid for his life during the arrest, particularly when he was placed in the back of an empty police van, which reminded him of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray under similar circumstances in the custody of Baltimore police. Williams says in the complaint that ever since his arrest, he's felt fear and anxiety about what happened, particularly when he passes the entryway to his residence.

In his complaint, Williams denies any animus toward police and notes he works closely with agencies across the state in handling cases on behalf of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division. After his arrest, he says, he "felt real concern (his arrest) would affect his ability to perform his professional duties."

Williams says he filed a complaint with Des Moines police June 4, 2020, alleging excessive force and racial bias. Within hours, according to the complaint, a police sergeant called him to say he had reviewed police camera footage and "it had refuted everything in (Williams') claim," which Williams says is untrue.

He alleges the sergeant, Jeff Robinson, "was engaged in intimidation as an attempt to stop (Williams) from pursuing the matter further," and he is suing Robinson alongside the unnamed officers who took part in his arrest.

Multiple lawsuits filed in wake of 2020 protests

The complaint accuses the city of violating both federal and state constitutional civil rights through false arrest, excessive force, retaliation and malicious prosecution.

The city has not yet filed its answer to Williams' complaint, and city and department officials did not respond to a reporter's messages seeking comment. Williams also could not be reached for comment.

Court records show Williams' failure-to-disperse citation was dismissed under a deferred prosecution agreement requiring him to avoid further criminal charges for six months. A 2021 investigation by the Des Moines Register found that scores of people charged during the protests had their cases dismissed, often due to a lack of evidence or documentation.

Williams' suit is among at least eight cases, including  a class-action suit representing dozens of plaintiffs, to be filed against Des Moines police for alleged actions taken during the protests, which broke out following the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police.