November 17, 2011 | 3:19 PM | By

Judge denies temporary restraining order against Oakland Police

FILED UNDER: Courts, ACLU of Northern California, crowd control policy, Judge Richard Seeborg, National Lawyers' Guild, Oakland, Oakland Police Department

Ali Winston

Tear gas obscures the intersection of 14th & Broadway in Oakland on October 25, 2011.

Yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg denied a request by the ACLU of Northern California and the National Lawyers’ Guild for a temporary restraining order preventing excessive use of force by the Oakland Police Department during crowd control situations.

The request for a restraining order stems from the joint ACLU-NLG lawsuit filed earlier this week alleging violations of OPD’s crowd control policies on October 25th and the evening of November 2-3 during clashes between police and Occupy Oakland protesters.

In denying the requested restraining order, Judge Seeborg says the Oakland Police Department’s peaceful clearing of the Occupy Oakland encampment in Frank Ogawa Plaza demonstrated no urgent need for restrictions on OPD’s crowd control response.

To justify an order requiring Oakland to comply with its Crowd Control Policy, plaintiffs must show that such “systemwide relief” is necessary to prevent defendants from concertedly violating the protesters’ constitutional rights,” Judge Seeborg wrote. Because the alleged violations of OPD’s crowd control policies took place on two specific days, the order states, the evidence presented is not enough to warrant immediate restrictions: “Sporadic or isolated violations of individual protesters’ rights are insufficient to support broad injunctive relief against an entire agency.”

In Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan’s declaration in support of the city’s motion asking Judge Seeborg to deny the temporary restraining order, Jordan claims that police were pelted with objects during the morning and evening of October 25th as well as on November 2, and that “all authorized uses of force were deployed in an attempt to control the violence, disperse the crowd and de-escalate the situation.”

The facts of the lawsuit itself have yet to be determined. Both parties are scheduled to appear before Seeborg at a November 30th hearing.

 

 

  • Levi443

    Is Judge Seeborg unsympathetic with Occupy?  Just asking.

    I doubt, in so many cases, whether these people .  My own view is that Oakland police get out of hand *often.*
    // / And the judge figures the police are “protecting and serving.”

    Ya’ can’t win ‘em all

  • Levi443

    Is Judge Seeborg unsympathetic with Occupy?  Just asking.

    I doubt, in so many cases, whether these people .  My own view is that Oakland police get out of hand *often.*
    // / And the judge figures the police are “protecting and serving.”

    Ya’ can’t win ‘em all