Several people who participated in the 2020 George Floyd protests have brought a proposed class action in Florida federal court against Fort Lauderdale officials, alleging their civil rights were violated by the police department's violent response to the peaceful demonstrations.

In their seven-count lawsuit filed Friday, Jayanna Jackson, Mike Gabelus, and Scott Ross accuse city officials and the city's police department of violating their First Amendment rights after police used tear gas and projectiles on them without justification as they peacefully protested on May 31, 2020, following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Michael T. Davis of Kuehne Davis Law PA, who represents Jackson, Gabelus, and Ross, gave a press conference in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Monday near where the protest took place.

"The city of Fort Lauderdale Police Department did not like their message, did not like their decision to assemble, and for an hour, they deployed tear gas and [kinetic impact projectiles] to make sure they could not speak anymore," Davis said. "This class action lawsuit seeks justice on their behalf. What happened on May 31, 2020, should never happen again."

The plaintiffs say they were among hundreds of law-abiding protesters who were gathered near the Florida Atlantic University at Southeast Second Street and Southwest First Avenue when they were violently dispersed with tear gas and KIPs without warning four years ago.

Defendants include the city of Fort Lauderdale, as well as Rick Maglione and Douglas MacDoughall, FLPD's former chief and assistant chief, respectively, who are being sued individually, in addition to other police officers.

The protesters say FLPD officers initiated the violence, with officer Steven Pohorence going into the crowd and pushing protesters away from the intersection, agitating them when he used force against a kneeling protester. In response, the crowd hurled water bottles at Pohorence.

"It is a fact, and the city has conceded the fact, that the first act of violence ever toward a city of Fort Lauderdale Police officer at the corner of SE 2nd Street and SE 1st Avenue was after Pohorence pushed the kneeling demonstrator," the lawsuit says, adding that the officers weren't confronted with "burning buildings, burning cars, Molotov cocktails, or looting of businesses like other police departments around the nation during the George Floyd protests."

The police continued dispersing protesters when they began donning gas masks, but they neither gave warning to the crowd nor declared an unlawful assembly, according to the suit.

Minutes later, the plaintiffs say, the FLPD fired canisters of tear gas and at least 100 rubber and foam bullets shot from guns that have muzzle velocities similar to live ammunition.

One protester, LaToya Ratlieff, was hit just above her right eye with a 40-millimeter projectile fired apparently by FLPD Officer Eliezer Ramos, sustaining severe injuries, court records show. Ratlieff individually sued Fort Lauderdale in 2022, alleging civil rights violations and negligent use of direct impact munitions, among other counts.

"I may have suffered some of the worst injuries of anyone who attended the protest, but I wasn't the only one who was harmed or had their rights violated," Ratlieff said during Monday's press conference. "If you were forced to leave the protest because of tear gas and rubber bullets, your rights were violated."

Ratlieff added that Fort Lauderdale not only has decided to defend its "outrageous and illegal behavior" but also not to correct it. She said "every single person" who was at the protest four years ago should join the lawsuit, and that only way to change the FLPD's ways is to force it through the courts.

Evan Ross, a spokesman for the plaintiffs, told Law360 on Monday that the city hasn't taken any action as a result of the protests or what happened to Ratlieff.

"Shooting someone in the head with that type of round is considered lethal," Ross said.

Proposed class representative Jackson, who has four children, said at the press conference that she attended the protest to "advocate for positive change" but got tear-gassed instead.

At the press conference, Gabelus said he helped a "woman that was shot" during the protest and brought her to the hospital. The woman he helped was Ratlieff. Gabelus added that the lawsuit is about accountability that the FLPD doesn't want.

Representatives for the defendants declined to comment on Monday.

The protesters are represented by Michael T. Davis, Benedict P. Kuehne, and Johan D. Dos Santos of Kuehne Davis Law PA and Stuart N. Ratzan, Stuart J. Weissman, and Kimberly L. Boldt of Ratzan Weissman & Boldt.

Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available on Monday.

The case is Jackson et al. v. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, et al., case number 0:24-cv-60935, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.