.jpg)
ST. LOUIS –– A St. Louis alderwoman who participated in the protests after the acquittal of a police officer charged with murder recently brought a federal lawsuit against the city over the police response to the demonstrations.
Democratic Alderwoman Megan Green filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
According to Associated Press reports, police used tear gas on demonstrators, including her, during the Sept. 15, 2017 protest following former Officer Jason Stockley's acquittal of first-degree murder in the death of drug suspect Anthony Lamar Smith. Green alleges the tear gas was used without justification and caused her months of respiratory problems.
Green's attorney Javad Khazaeli of Khazaeli Wyrsch law firm, told the St. Louis Record they are seeking unspecified damages for the incident.
Green was among 100 to 150 people who sought shelter in a synagogue to avoid the gas, according to news reports. As Green was heading to her car, she claims an armored vehicle drove by and dispersed more gas into the group.
Khazaeli said the city has not responded to the lawsuit.
"Any damages awarded to her would be used to establish a fund to support regional racial equity infrastructure that was recommended by the Ferguson Commission after protests that followed the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed, by a white officer in nearby Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014," he said.