Appeals court sends back part of Dakota Access oil pipeline protester’s excessive force lawsuit

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An appeals court has sent back part of a lawsuit brought by a protester of the Dakota Access oil pipeline, who alleged excessive force by law enforcement officers.

Eric Poemoceah, of Oklahoma, filed the federal court lawsuit in 2020 against Morton County, County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, then-Sheriff of Cass County Paul Laney and other officers, including unidentified ones. He sought unspecified damages to be determined at trial.

Poemoceah alleged that during a demonstration in February 2017, when a protest camp was being evacuated, Bismarck Police Officer Benjamin Swenson tackled him, causing a pelvic fracture. He also alleged other injuries from other officers, and that the officers disregarded his pelvic injury and retaliated against him for livestreaming the events.

The defendants sought to dismiss the case. U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor granted their motions to dismiss the case in December 2020. He said the officers were entitled to qualified immunity regarding use of force, and that Poemoceah didn’t sufficiently back up his claims.

Poemoceah appealed in 2021. On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judge’s dismissal of most of Poemoceah’s claims. But the panel said he “plausibly alleges a Fourth Amendment excessive force claim against Swenson,” and sent that claim back for further proceedings.

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The Associated Press emailed attorneys for both sides, but did not immediately receive responses to requested comment.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing drew thousands of people who demonstrated and camped for months in 2016 and 2017 near the crossing. Hundreds of arrests resulted from the sometimes-chaotic protests.

The multistate pipeline has been transporting oil since 2017, including during an ongoing, court-ordered environmental review process for the controversial river segment.