SEATTLE —The father of a child who was doused with pepper spray during the early days of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests downtown has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging assault and negligence by the involved Seattle police officers.
Their use of force sparked national outrage after video and photos showed volunteer medics and other protesters pouring water and milk on the screaming child’s face in an effort to relieve his suffering. Police accountability officials say the highly publicized incident generated nearly 13,000 complaints against the department.
Following a three-month investigation, Seattle’s civilian-run Office of Police Accountability determined the boy’s injuries were “inadvertent” and that the incident was not an excessive use of force or a violation of Seattle Police Department policy. The officer was trying to direct a stream of pepper spray at another protester and struck the child instead, according to the OPA.
The boy’s father, Armand Avery, alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court that he and his son — who was 7 years old at the time and is identified in the suit by the initials “A.J.” — “decided to participate in a peaceful rally and protest” near Westlake Mall with members of their family and church congregation on May 30, 2020. The demonstration came five days after the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd sent thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters into the streets.
