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Appeals Court Revives Man's Lawsuit Over Ferguson Protests

Doug Kerr
/
Flickr

An appeals court has revived a man's lawsuit claiming police violated his civil rights in 2014 when they arrested him during protests of the Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting death of Michael Brown.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed a judge's dismissal of Dwayne Matthews Jr.'s case against police. Matthews says police beat him, held his head under water in a culvert and used pepper spray on him.

He was among 10 people who alleged in the lawsuit that police used excessive force against Ferguson protesters in the days after 18-year-old Brown, who was black and unarmed, was shot and killed by white officer Darren Wilson.

A judge last year threw out the lawsuit. The 8th Circuit revived only Matthews' claims.

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