Dallas Sergeant Files Lawsuit Accusing Black Lives Matter Of Inciting Anti-Cop Violence

Sgt. Demetrick Pennie, an officer with the Dallas Police Department, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Black Lives Matter movement. Pennie, a 17-year veteran of the force, and president of the Dallas Fallen Officer Foundation, claims the protest group has incited race riots and violence against police.

In July, five Dallas police officers were shot and killed by gunman Micah Johnson. Johnson, a 25-year-old black man, was found by authorities to have no ties to Black Lives Matter or any political group, rather, was a military veteran, reports The New York Times.

Pennie’s lawsuit claims leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement “have repeatedly incited their supporters and others to engage in threats of and attacks to cause serious bodily injury or death upon police officers and other law enforcement persons of all races and ethnicities,” according to The Dallas Morning News.

“Sergeant Pennie and I feel duty-bound to put ourselves forward to seek an end to the incitement of violence against law enforcement which has already resulted in the death of five police officers in Dallas and the wounding of seven more, just in Texas alone,” Larry Klayman, who is representing Pennie and is part of the conservative organizations Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, stated.

“Other assaults and deaths have occurred elsewhere,” Klayman continued, reports Bue Lives Matter. “While the case was filed in Texas, it will create precedent around the nation that law enforcement, which ironically protects the very persons who are alleged to have incited this violence, should be respected. The defendants, if not legally reined in, are allegedly responsible, along with others, for igniting a race war that will ultimately totally destroy the freedoms that our Founding Fathers bequeathed to us.”

The lawsuit is seeking $500 million in damages.

After the July shootings, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said, “All I know is that this must stop, this divisiveness between our police and our citizens.”

Sources: The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, Blue Lives Matter / Photo credit: Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News