United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 19-2062 No. 19-2221 ___________________________ Maleeha S. Ahmad, et al. lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiffs-Appellees v. City of St. Louis, Missouri lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ___________________________ Appeals from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis ____________ Submitted: September 23, 2020 Filed: April 27, 2021 ____________ Before LOKEN, SHEPHERD, and ERICKSON, Circuit Judges. ____________ LOKEN, Circuit Judge. In September 2017, following the acquittal of a former St. Louis police officer for the on-duty shooting of a black man, St. Louis police dealt with several days of extensive street protests. The initial protests were peaceful; police made no arrests and did not use force or chemical agents. After dark on September 15, a group attempted to seize a highway on-ramp. Turned back by police outfitted with riot gear, they migrated to the area where police civil disobedience teams were about to leave in public transit buses. Some protesters locked arms to prevent the buses from leaving and were maced when they refused to obey orders to move. Others were maced when they approached police lines and failed to obey commands to “move back.” Officers declared that certain gatherings were unlawful assemblies and issued dispersal orders. A large crowd threw objects at the mayor’s house; security summoned police who deployed tear gas and pepper balls to disperse the group. On the evening of September 17, rioters wearing masks and goggles roamed downtown St. Louis, smashing windows and engaging in other vandalism. Some were arrested. During the chaos, a group of officers the City admits “went rogue” seized and beat a protester who in fact was an undercover detective and destroyed the phone he was using to record police conduct. Text messages between abusive officers revealed a plan to beat protesters and suggested that if they had beaten a real protester rather than an undercover detective, they would not be in any trouble. Elsewhere that evening, when rioters harassed police, the commander ordered arrests. Awaiting reinforcements, police declared the crowd an unlawful assembly and issued repeated orders to disperse, in-person and via public address. An hour later, police arrested and maced approximately 125 people. These incidents gave rise to this lawsuit. Plaintiffs, now three in number, are a protester who allegedly was maced, a person whose cell phone was seized and searched as he filmed arrests, and an observer who was allegedly exposed to chemical agents and arrested on September 17. Plaintiffs filed a First Amended Complaint for Prospective Relief and a motion for a preliminary injunction on September 28, 2017. The Amended Complaint alleged that the City (i) violated the First Amendment by retaliating against plaintiffs for engaging in protected expressive activity; (ii) violated the Fourth Amendment because its custom, practice, and failure to train and supervise caused unlawful seizures and the use of excessive force by police officers; and (iii) violated the Fourteenth Amendment when officers failed to warn before deploying -2- chemical agents, failed to provide opportunities to disperse, and …
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