MEDFORD, Ore. — Protesters who allege law enforcement officers illegally detained them during a 2004 protest in Jacksonville have been granted class-action status.
A court order, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Medford, gives class-action status to demonstrators who gathered the evening of Oct. 14, 2004, near the Jacksonville Inn to protest the appearance of President George W. Bush. The demonstrators allege that police encircled them and prevented them from leaving.
Protesters who were not allowed to leave are opted in as part of the lawsuit automatically, according to lawyer Steven Wilker, with the Portland-based Tonkon Torp law firm, who is representing protesters pro bono on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“If they don’t want to be a part of it, they have to opt out,” Wilker said.
Demonstrators were protesting Bush’s presence during a campaign appearance in the Rogue Valley. Wilker encouraged protesters who were there that night to come forward as either witnesses or victims.
“We’re trying to locate individuals who were there that night,” said Wilker.
Wilker said the class action for protesters restrained from leaving is one of three pieces of the federal suit, initially filed in 2006. Other portions of the case lined out by Wilker included the Secret Service’s decision to move protesters two blocks away, and excessive force on protesters used by local law enforcement.
“We believe that these three things were unlawful,” Wilker said.
The suit was delayed while waiting for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal for two U.S. Secret Service agents, Tim Wood and Rob Savage, accused of violating civil rights of protesters in the case.
“There’s multiple stages you have to go through,” Wilker said. “Some have taken longer than we’ve thought.”
The Secret Service claimed qualified immunity in the case and moved to have the case against the agents dismissed.
The United States District Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the protesters were entitled to proceed, but the Secret Service agents appealed to the United States Supreme Court. According to Mail Tribune archives, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled May 27, 2014, in favor of the Secret Service agents. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg noted in her court opinion that protesters “were within weapons range of his (Bush’s) location” when the protesters were required to move.
While those who were detained will be part of the class action, cases of alleged excessive force during the protest are proceeding on an individual basis. Wilker, who is handling some of the individual cases, said he would listen to any protesters who may not have previously come forward. But he said he couldn’t commit to representing them without hearing the circumstances first.
“Michael Moss (chief plaintiff in the federal suit) was shot with pepper munitions in the back,” Wilker said.
Wilker and the ACLU are seeking monetary damages against state and local police, although no specific amount was listed in the court filings.
“The goal here is to vindicate our clients,” Wilker said.
According to a Notice of Pendency of Class Action filed Monday, the remaining defendants are Jacksonville Chief of Police David Towe, the city of Jacksonville and former Sheriff Mike Winters.
