BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a federal judge’s 2021 decision dismissing a lawsuit filed by protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline, who alleged law enforcement officers used excessive force during a clash in 2016.
Nine protesters filed the lawsuit in 2016. They alleged civil and constitutional rights violations in officers’ use of tear gas, rubber bullets, shotgun bean bags, and water in below-freezing temperatures during the clash on Nov. 20, 2016, at a blocked highway bridge. Lead plaintiff and Navajo Nation member Vanessa Dundon said she sustained an eye injury.
The lawsuit’s defendants included the Morton and Stutsman county sheriffs, the Mandan police chief, and 100 unidentified officers. In 2021, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor granted the officers’ request to dismiss the case. The protesters appealed in 2022. The appeals court decision affirming Traynor’s ruling came Nov. 3.
