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.”
