Missouri residents sue police over use of force in Ferguson protests

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Beverly Scott of Chicago adds to the makeshift memorial in Ferguson, Mo., for Michael Brown. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

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Protesters march through Ferguson in support of Micheal Brown. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press )

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Nikki Jones of Spanish Lake, Mo., displays a button in support of Michael Brown. (Curtis Compton / Associated Press )

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A protester holds a candle while marching silently with his hands up during an Aug. 20 demonstration on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. (Curtis Compton / Associated Press)

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Protesters in Ferguson, Mo., march in the street as lightning flashes in the distance on Aug. 20. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

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Police charge into the media work area with rifles at ready as they try to control protesters. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Police confront a man in the early hours of Aug. 20. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Demonstrators on Aug. 19. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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A protester holds roses in the air as she marches with others past police officers in Ferguson, Mo., on Tuesday. (Curtis Compton / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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A demonstrator in Ferguson is arrested. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Demonstrators in Ferguson march as police look on. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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A policeman stands by as demonstrators march in Ferguson on behalf of Michael Brown. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Protesters move down the street, many carrying roses, in Ferguson, Mo. (Jeff Roberson / AP)

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A shirt reading “hands up don’t shoot” is covered with roses Tuesday at the spot Michael Brown was killed by police Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Duane Merrells walks with an upside-down flag in a protest sparked the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, killed by a police officer Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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In this photo taken with a fisheye lens, people protest after the fatal shooting by police of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Brown’s shooting has sparked more than a week of protests, riots and looting in the St. Louis suburb. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Law enforcement officers watch during a protest on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo. Just hours after President Obama called for calm, police fired tear gas in another night of unrest in the Missouri town, where a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. (Michael B. Thomas / AFP/Getty Images)

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A man is detained by police during a protest Monday in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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A man bends down in prayer as police try to disperse a small group of protesters in Ferguson, Mo. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

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A man is detained after a standoff with police Monday during a protest for Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Rapper Nelly, center, walks with protesters Monday in Ferguson, Mo. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

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Getty Images photographer Scott Olson is brought to a police van after being arrested Monday while covering demonstrations in Ferguson, Mo. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

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Leo Walker, left, and his sister Letrece protest the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Tear gas reigns down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air in Ferguson. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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A protestor is detained in Ferguson. (Christian Gooden / AP)

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People run from tear gas deployed by police in an effort to disperse the crowd Sunday night. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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People run from tear gas launched by police to disperse the crowd of protesters gathered Sunday night in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Tear gas and smoke waft around the site of a protest Sunday. (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

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A woman has her face doused with milk after she was sprayed with tear gas by police during a protest Sunday. (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

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People leave a McDonald’s restaurant after taking refuge from tear gas in Ferguson. (Charlie Riedel / AP)

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Smoke from tear gas and flash grenades drifts around demonstrators, who again gathered Sunday to protest the police shooting death of Michael Brown a week earlier. (Joshua Lott / Getty Images)

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Demonstrators on Sunday raise their hands during a protest over the police shooting death of Michael Brown, who was unarmed. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

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Demonstrators protest the Aug. 9 police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. (Joshua Lott / AFP/Getty Images)

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Protesters in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 16. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Protestors blocl West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo., refusing to leave despite police orders early Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014. (Robert Cohen / McClatchy-Tribune)

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Protesters block West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, Mo., early Saturday. (Robert Cohen / McClatchy-Tribune)

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Men carry rifles to protect a grocery store in Ferguson after a new outbreak of vandalism and looting. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Mustafa Alshalabi cleans up Sam’s Meat Market after it was struck by looters overnight. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Ty Crustfield pauses Aug. 15 before a makeshift memorial in the middle of the street where Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Protesters march on Aug. 15 down the middle of a street in front of a convenience store that was looted and burned after the shooting death of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Mo. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)

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Protestors march on West Florissant Avenue as they head to the location where Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri. (ROBERT RODRIGUEZ / EPA)

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Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol hugs Angela Whitman on West Florissant Avenue. Johnson is leading the state police’s security effort in the city. Whitman was marching with the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition. (David Carson / Associated Press)

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People listen as residents, religious leaders and community officials discuss unrest in Ferguson, Mo., in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown during a community meeting at Christ the King Church in Florissant. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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A demonstrator, protesting the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown, stands his ground as police fire tear gas in Ferguson, Mo. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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The Williams family is overcome with emotion after Terrell Williams El, left, confronted police. “I’m out here to stand for my children and their future,” said Williams El. (David Carson / Associated Press)

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A demonstrator throws back a tear gas container after police tried to break up a protest in suburban St. Louis. Ferguson, Mo., has been the scene of unrest since 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot there during a confrontation with a policeman last Saturday. (Robert Cohen / Associated Press )

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Smoke fills the nighttime air during a clash between police and protesters in Ferguson. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press )

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Police and protesters face off on West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson. (Robert Cohen / Associated Press )

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A demonstrator pleads with another to walk away after being ordered off a street by police in Ferguson. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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As riot police stand by, a child’s hands are held in the air, a symbol of defiance among protesters since the death of Michael Brown. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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A protest march by supporters of Michael Brown moves along a Ferguson street. (J.B. Forbes / McClatchy-Tribune )

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Demonstrators protesting the killing of Michael Brown rally in St. Louis. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

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Police wearing riot gear walk toward a man with his hands raised in Ferguson, Mo. Authorities have made several arrests in Ferguson, where crowds have looted and burned stores, vandalized vehicles and taunted police after a vigil for an unarmed black man who was killed by police. (Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

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Officers arrest a man who they said refused to leave when police in riot gear cleared the area in downtown Ferguson, Mo. (Robert Cohen / McClatchy-Tribune)

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Lesley McSpadden, mother of slain 18-year-old Michael Brown, speaks during a news conference at Jennings Mason Temple Church of God In Christ in Jennings, Mo. (Michael B. Thomas / Getty Images)

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Meghan O’Donnell prays at the spot where Michael Brown was killed, Sunday evening in Ferguson, Mo. (J.B. Forbes / Associated Press)

By James QueallyStaff Writer

Aug. 28, 2014 8:05 PM PT

Six Missouri residents filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging excessive force and false arrests by the Ferguson and St. Louis County police departments during the street protests that followed the shooting death of Michael Brown.

Among the allegations:

--Dewayne Matthews Jr. says he had his hands up when police officers in riot gear pelted him with rubber bullets, slammed his face into the concrete and doused him with a chemical spray.

--Tracey White and her 13-year-old son were waiting to leave a McDonald’s, she says, when police stormed the restaurant and arrested them without cause.

--Damon Coleman and Theophilus Green say they were part of a peaceful protest in Ferguson on Aug. 11. Confronted by officers clad in riot gear, the two men shouted “hands up, don’t shoot,” the refrain that became a battle cry for demonstrators. Police responded with rubber bullets, tear gas, stun grenades, racial slurs and a beatdown.

The six residents accuse the police of humiliating them and depriving them of their civil rights in the days of clashes that began when the unarmed Brown, 18, was shot to death Aug. 9 by Officer Darren Wilson.

In the days that followed, police “took up arms, and in militaristic displays of force and weaponry, engaged U.S. citizens as if they were war combatants,” according to the 30-page court filing.

The lawsuit seeks millions in damages for alleged abuses that took place between Aug. 11 and 13.

Authorities have said Wilson fired in self-defense after Brown attacked him. Several witnesses as well as Brown’s family have said Brown was gunned down as he tried to surrender.

The shooting sparked nearly two weeks of protests in Ferguson in which clouds of tear gas and the sight of police in riot gear threatened to become a nightly routine. More than 200 people were arrested, and many questioned the swift and at times forceful response of officers as they attempted to quell unrest.

A grand jury has been convened to weigh criminal charges in Brown’s death, but the results of those proceedings may not become public until October.

The suit, which names Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Delmar and both departments among the defendants, claims the officers assaulted the plaintiffs. It also contends both departments failed to adequately train their officers.

Police have said the arrests were for failure to disperse, but the lawsuit contends the arrests were baseless.

Calls to Jackson and a St. Louis County police spokesman seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Brown’s funeral was Monday.

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