Report: Lawsuit to target Charlottesville police over rally’s violence

by Josh Delk - 08/31/17 3:56 PM ET

Nexus Caridades, a Virginia-based law group, reportedly plans to sue Charlottesville police over the violence that resulted from a white supremacists’ rally earlier this month, citing a client who was injured in the violent clashes.

The case alleges that plaintiff Robert Sanchez Turner sustained injuries in the violence because of the police “standing down” and failing to intervene in the situation, in which white nationalist groups attacked anti-racist protesters, the attorneys told The Daily Progress.

One woman was killed and dozens of others were injured when a man with alleged white supremacist ties plowed his car into a crowd.

The pro-bono legal group plans to formally announce the litigation on Friday in Emancipation Park, where the Aug. 12 rally took place. Also targeted in the suit are the city of Charlottesville, its chief of police and the superintendent of the Virginia State Police.

{mosads}“Mr. Turner was assaulted while police officers watched but failed to act to keep him safe or arrest those responsible for the attacks,” the organization’s public relations director, Jen Little, told the Progress.

The lawsuit follows a report that federal authorities had warned Virginia law enforcement of potential violence at the rally, citing previous clashes between white supremacist groups and anti-fascist “antifa” protesters.

“As reported by Mr. Turner and confirmed by footage from dozens of media cameras and hundreds of handheld cameras and phones, police stood down. This stand-down enabled neo-Nazis to inflict a modern-day race war in the streets of Charlottesville,” Little said.

Police have denied there was any “stand down” order in place.

The clashes have stayed in the public eye after President Trump drew bipartisan criticism for saying there was “blame on both sides.”

“What about the alt-left that came charging at the — as you say, the alt-right?” Trump asked three days after the deadly rally. “Do they have any semblance of guilt? What about the fact they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do. As far as I am concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day.”

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