Officers sue Trump, allies over election lies and Jan. 6

A group of seven Capitol Police officers filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing former President Donald Trump and nearly 20 members of far-right extremist groups and political organizations of a plot to disrupt the peaceful transition of power during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.

The lawsuit, which implicated members of the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers militia and Trump associates such as Roger Stone, was arguably the most expansive civil effort to date seeking to hold Trump and his allies legally accountable for the storming of the Capitol.

While three similar lawsuits were filed in recent months, the lawsuit Thursday was the first to allege that Trump worked in concert with far-right extremists and political organizers promoting his baseless lies that the presidential election was marred by fraud.

“This is probably the most comprehensive account of Jan. 6 in terms of civil cases,” said Edward Caspar, a lawyer who is leading the lawsuit for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “It spans from the former president to militants around him to his campaign supporters.”

Several police officers who served during the Capitol riot have come forward with stories of the insults and injuries they faced that day, most prominently at a congressional hearing in July. But the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, was the first time that the seven plaintiffs, five of whom are Black, offered details of their ordeals.

One of the officers, Governor Latson, was helping to secure the Senate chamber when a mob of rioters broke in and shoved him, beat him and hurled racial slurs at him, the lawsuit says.

Another, Jason Deroche, was caught in a melee on the west front steps of the Capitol, where, according to the lawsuit, rioters pelted him with batteries and doused him with mace and bear spray, causing his eyes to swell shut.

The lawsuit contends that Trump and his co-defendants violated the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 statute that includes protections against violent conspiracies that interfere with Congress’ constitutional duties. It also accuses the defendants of committing “bias-motivated acts of terrorism” in violation of District of Columbia law.