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.” aii ways Want to get away? Want s» -a in lines? 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