Iowa Assistant AG Sues Des Moines Police for His 2020 Protest Arrest
FIGHTING BACK
Paxton Williams said he was pepper-sprayed and tackled without warning, spent a night in jail, and was then given a citation for failure to disperse that was later dismissed.
Iowa assistant Attorney General Paxton Williams isn’t taking no for an answer. Two years after, he filed a complaint with Des Moines Police, accusing them of using excessive force and racial bias in his arrest, but was simply told that video disproved his claims. Now, he’s taking legal action. Williams was arrested during an “overwhelmingly peaceful” protest at the Iowa Capitol in June 2020, which organizers held in response to the arrest of a Des Moines Register journalist covering a protest the night before. Williams said he pepper-sprayed and tackled without warning, spent a night in jail, and was then given a citation for failure to disperse that was later dismissed. He was put in the back of an empty police van, which he said was reminiscent of the 2015 death of Freddie Gray. Williams is suing the city, the local police department, and multiple officers—and he’s representing himself. There are at least eight cases against the Des Moines Police Department for how they handled Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, the Register reported.
