Wounded Officer Sues Black Lives Matter

A lawsuit filed on June 7 accuses the Black Lives Matter movement of prompting the deadly shooting of Louisiana police officers in July, 2016.

The suit, filed on behalf of one of the police officers injured in the shooting, alleges that the movement incited the police attack “in retaliation for the death of black men killed by police,” and names five leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement, including DeRay McKesson.

“Obviously, at this point talk show hosts were holding them responsible, and they were having to defend the blame and responsibility for what they had caused whether in whole or in part,” reads the suit.

When informed on July 7 of the lawsuit, McKesson said, “This is quite a world,” according to Associated Press.

The lawsuit portrays the shooter, ex-Marine Gavin Long, as an “activist whose actions followed and mimicked those of” a deadly shooting days prior in Dallas, Texas.

Long stated in a video prior to the shooting that he was “affiliated with the spirit of justice.”

“Don’t affiliate me with nothing,” said Long, according to CBS News.

“Yeah, I was also a Nation of Islam member, I’m not affiliated with it. … They’ll try to put you with ISIS or some other terrorist group — no.”

“I thought my own thoughts, I made my own decisions, I’m the one who gotta listen to the judgment,” stated Long in one video.

McKesson’s attorney, William Gibbens, contested the validity of Black Live Matter as a target for the lawsuit, saying that it was a “community of interest” rather than a consolidated organization.

“However, even as a community of interest, it would be nearly impossible to ascribe a single common purpose or interest to the hundreds of thousands of different people, many with different goals and motives, who have protested, posted online, or acted under the ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner,” said Gibbens.

Donna Grodner, an attorney for the plaintiff officer, argues that Black Lives Matter is a “thriving, if not very wealthy, unincorporated association.”

“If Black Lives Matter does not exist, it should not be raising money or collecting millions in donations,” stated Grodner in a court filing.

The suit references the movement’s own description of itself, according to WAFB:

“…created in 2012 after Treyvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Treyvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in the U.S. Who actively resist our dehumanization, [Black Lives Matter] is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression…”  

Sources: Associated Press/Yahoo News, CBS News, WAFB (2)/Photo Credit: Himmelrich PR/Wikimedia Commons, The All-Nite Images/Wikimedia Commons (2)