Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, December 04, 1997, Page 4, Image 4

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    Six arrested in protest file suit against city, police
I he individuals were
arrested for criminal
trespassing during the
tree-cutting protest
David Ryan
Freelance reporter
A group of six individuals who
were involved in the June 1 tree
cutting protest of the Broadway
Plaza Project gave public notice
of an impending civil suit against
the city of Eugene and the Eu
gene Police Department on
Wednesday. They also discussed
the city’s criminal suit against
them regarding charges of crimi
nal trespassing during the
protest.
The six individuals named in
the civil suit are: James Flynn,
Josh Laughlin, Brett Cole, Jeremi
ah Guske, Benjamin Darwin and
one other individual who re
mains unnamed at this point.
They are all represented by Lau
ren Regan with the Bahr and
Stotter Law Offices.
“Last week, the city of Eugene
and the Eugene Police Depart
ment received legal notification
of our intent to sue,” Regan said.
“It is our hope that this [civil
suit] will have a beneficial effect
on the community. It is [the
group’s) belief that they were as
saulted by police.”
Eugene City Manager Vicki
Elmer sent out a printed re
sponse to local media. “I am
aware,” Elmer stated in the re
sponse, "that a group of indi
viduals have filed a notice of
tort claim indicating their in
tent to file litigation against the
city of Eugene and the Eugene
Police Department. We are not
surprised by this action since
many of the individuals in
volved in this suit have indicat
ed for some time that they
would take legal action against
the city.”
The police department was not
allowed to comment about the
impending civil suit under Eu
gene Police Department regula
tions.
City attorney Glenn Klein was
unavailable for comment
Wednesday.
Last June, Eugene police used
pepper spray on protesters who
objected to the removal of sever
al trees at the construction site of
the Broadway Plaza Project, said
Brian Terrett, public information
director for the city, after the in
cident. Eleven protesters were ar
rested and charged with criminal
trespassing.
Flynn released an affidavit de
scribing his claims of the abuse
he experienced at the hands of
the Eugene police during the
protest. In the affidavit, Flynn de
CHAD PATTESON/Emerald
Imiren Regan of Bahr and Stotter Law Offices speaks to the media about the intent of six protesters to
claim damages against the city of Eugene for its actions in the June 1 tree-cutting protest on the comer of
Broadway and Chamelton.
scribed being sprayed with
“about 15 cans of chemical
agents” while he was clinging to
a tree.
“I was coughing and gagging,"
he said. “It was painful to
breathe and I was in a lot of pain
from the numerous doses of
chemicals on my skin, and I was
blind.”
Regan said she had hoped that
the civil suit would convince the
police department to drop crimi
nal trespass charges against the
protesters. “We would hope for
that to happen, but so far as we
can see, the charges do not look
as if they will be dropped.”
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