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ACLU Sues City of Miami on Behalf of Filmmaker Brutalized by Police During FTAA Protests
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Media Contact:
Alessandra Soler Meetze, ACLU-FL, 305-576-2337 ext. 16
MIAMI - The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida’s Greater Miami Chapter today filed a lawsuit on behalf of an independent filmmaker who was shot in the head by police with a beanbag rifle during November’s Free Trade Area of the Americas protests.
Filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the lawsuit seeks damages on behalf of Carl Kesser, who sustained serious injuries after he was struck by a beanbag pellet that became lodged in his right temple and left him paralyzed on the side of his face. He also was shot in the back with repeated rounds of rubber bullets.
Kesser was capturing video footage of demonstrations held on November 20, 2003 in downtown Miami for a promotional video he was planning to produce to help bring the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) to Miami.
“This kind of unjustified and unprovoked use of force is illegal and unconstitutional and shows just how intent the city was on prohibiting all forms of expression,” said ACLU cooperating attorney Robert D. Brown, who is with the Miami firm of Freidin & Brown, P.A. “There was simply no distinction in the minds of police officers between innocent bystanders and lawful or unlawful protesters. Their frightening version of crowd control involved the use of excessive and indiscriminate force, no questions asked.”
The lawsuit was filed against the city of Miami and ten of its police officers. According to the complaint, city police officers "amassed a force" on Northeast Third Street and Biscayne Boulevard in an attempt to move protesters west. Kesser was on the sidewalk, near the intersection of Northeast Third Street and Northeast Second Avenue, filming the heavily-armed officers as they moved forward with their weapons and riot gear. Without giving any orders to disperse or clear the area, officers then began firing beanbag rifles, striking Kesser in the head. Bleeding profusely, Kesser struggled to get on his feet and seek medical attention, when police struck him twice in the back with rubber bullets. He was finally taken to the hospital, where he underwent three hours of surgery to remove the beanbag pellet.
“Even though no one was antagonizing the police, they continued to use these extremely dangerous rifles to shoot everyone in their path, as if they were spraying them with water,” said Kesser, 58, who has been a filmmaker in Miami for 40 years. “It was shocking. Their message was: either shut up and get out of the way or risk being shot.”
The ACLU has repeatedly questioned the city's strategic and tactical decisions to supposedly use “less lethal weapons” including tasers, rubber bullets, batons, pepper spray and other chemical agents against FTAA protesters who were engaged in lawful forms of expression. The organization also criticized the widespread use these weapons
in areas filled with workers and other bystanders not directly involved in the protests.
Kesser’s encounter with police was not out of the ordinary. Following the FTAA summit, the ACLU received approximately 150 complaints regarding police abuse, ranging from First Amendment violations and false arrests to illegal searches and excessive use of force.
The ACLU argues in its complaint that the city knew – prior to the FTAA meetings – that beanbag pellets caused serious injuries, including death. Yet numerous photographs and videos taken during the protests show that the officers responded to the non-violent demonstrations by using deadly force and firing the rifles directly at demonstrators. In addition, several high-ranking city of Miami police officers have acknowledged that the beanbag
rifles are meant to be fired at specific individuals, yet police officers fired them indiscriminately at innocent bystanders standing at close range.
“The concept of allowing people to express themselves in a non-violent manner was completely foreign to city police officers during the FTAA,” said John de Leon, vice-president of the ACLU’s Greater Miami Chapter. “We can’t tolerate this kind of unprecedented police overreaction to an event in which people were merely exercising their constitutional rights. People participating in or observing nonviolent protests in Miami shouldn’t have to pay the price of being shot and seriously injured by the police.”
The ACLU alleges in its lawsuit that the actions of city of Miami police officers violated Kesser’s rights under the U.S. Constitution, specifically the First Amendment, which prevents the government from unreasonably interfering with people’s rights to engage in demonstrations and other expressive activities and the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits the police from using unreasonable and excessive force.
The organization is seeking unspecified damages for Kesser to compensate him for his medical bills, lost wages, disfigurement, physical pain and suffering.
Today’s lawsuit is the first challenge filed by the ACLU regarding civil rights violations during the FTAA. In the coming months, the organization plans to file additional lawsuits on behalf of several victims of police abuse.
The case is Carl Kesser & Martha Kesser v. City of Miami et al. In addition to Brown, the plaintiff is represented by Bruce G. Hermelee, of the Miami-based law firm of Brooks Hermelee Geffin, and Rosalind Matos of the ACLU of Florida, Inc.
