Barnhart suit claims excessive force, assault by city and county law enforcement

Listen to this article

Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart filed suit on Tuesday against the city of Rochester, Monroe County and up to 200 unnamed law enforcement officers, alleging she suffered injuries while participating in a peaceful protest in September.

Nicole Hushla Re, vice chair of the Monroe County Democratic Committee at the time of those protests, also filed a similar suit on Monday. The law firms of Roth & Roth, LLP and Easton Thompson Kasparek Shiffrin LLP represent both plaintiffs in the legal actions, which were filed in state Supreme Court in Monroe County.

The suits claim officers and municipalities were guilty of assault and battery, using excessive force, violating the civil rights of the plaintiffs and negligence. Barnhart and Hushla Re are asking for compensatory and punitive damages.

Both filings claim officers from the Rochester Police Department and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office “responded to peaceful protests with extreme violence — including the indiscriminate use of tear gas and pepper spray, 40 millimeter blunt-impact projectiles, thousands of pepper balls, flash-bang grenades and other supposedly ‘less-than-lethal’ munitions.”

Court papers allege Barnhart was shot in the head and chest with pepper balls by an officer 15 to 20 feet away during the gathering near the Public Safety Building in downtown Rochester on Sept. 5. The suit says she was targeted by the officer(s) “in retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights” and “because she was an elected official.”

The day after the incident, Barnhart posted photos on Twitter of a lump on her head and large area of bruising on her chest. Court papers allege she sustained a concussion, as well as irritation to her skin, eyes, mouth, nose and lungs.

Her lawsuit alleges that, “because of the close proximity, it is clear that the John Doe RPD officer and/or Richard Roe sheriff’s deputy intended to shoot Ms. Barnhart in the head.”

The suit goes on to say she “was not committing a crime or violation, let alone threatening law enforcement in any way” and that officers “lacked cause or any legal justification” for shooting her with a pepper ball.

Hushla Re also posted photos on social media of her bloodied face, which she said was the result of being struck by a tear gas canister later that night. Court papers allege she had complied with orders to disperse and was on State Street, at least blocks from the initial site of the protest, when she was targeted “in retaliation for video recording the law enforcement response to the protests.”

The lawsuit also alleges that because she was not with a crowd of group at the time, “it is clear” the officer “who launched the tear gas canister at her was targeting her and intended to strike her.”

Sheriff Todd Baxter also is named in the suit because he “is responsible for the training, supervision and discipline of the defendant sheriff’s deputies under state law.”

The incidents took place during continual nightly protests that followed the release of police video of the Daniel Prude incident of March 30. Prude died in police custody.

The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide but no officers were indicted following a grand jury investigation. A police expert witness testified before the grand jury that actions by the officers did not cause Prude’s death.

Participants in the September protests were demanding change in policing tactics and policies. Court papers say that local elected officials, including Barnhart, “were horrified” and called on local law enforcement officers “to stop using extreme and excessive force to suppress the rights of protesters to peacefully assemble to mourn the loss of Black lives,” court papers say.

The protesters also made clear their “demand the city finally end its racist and brutal policing practices,” and called for “new visions of public safety that value Black lives.”

[email protected]/(585) 653-4020