Four people arrested during a protest following the acquittal of a Cleveland police officer have sued the city and police department in federal court, claiming they were trapped in an alley and weren't given a chance to leave.
Around 70 people were arrested for failing to disperse in Cleveland's popular Warehouse District on May 23, the day office Michael Brelo, who is white, was acquitted of manslaughter charges for his role in a fatal hail of police gunfire that killed two unarmed African-Americans - Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. The lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union attorneys says the four were arrested in the alley after police wouldn't let them leave, and that they were held in jail two days despite judges being available to process them. A city spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
