"The former special agentswho together have nearly 200 years of experienceonce received awards for helping disrupt mass shootings, expose foreign spies and thwart cyber attacks. But they say as elite federal law enforcement agents, they never received training on crowd control, nor did they have riot shields, gas masks, or helmets when they faced down volatile crowds in the streets of Washington, D.C., in June 2020."
"Court papers said they kneeled not to reflect a left-wing political point of view, but rather to de-escalate a situation that threatened to spin out of control. "Mindful of the potentially catastrophic consequences, Plaintiffs knew that a split-second misjudgment by any of them could ignite an already-charged national climate and trigger further violence and unrest," said the lawsuit, filed by former Justice Department prosecutor Mary Dohrmann of the Washington Litigation Group."
Thirteen former FBI agents who kneeled during racial justice protests in June 2020 were fired and have filed a lawsuit alleging unlawful retaliation. The agents together have nearly 200 years of experience and previously received awards for disrupting mass shootings, exposing foreign spies and thwarting cyber attacks. The agents say they lacked crowd-control training and protective equipment when facing volatile crowds near the National Archives and kneeled to de-escalate a potentially explosive situation. The Justice Department inspector general found no misconduct in 2024, but the episode went viral and critics labeled the kneeling political. The lawsuit alleges targeting and retaliatory personnel actions after Kash Patel became FBI director.
Read at www.npr.org
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