GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Green Bay attorney is suggesting several remedies for nine of his clients who were issued curfew citations in the city in early June.
The city enacted an emergency curfew June 1st through the 6th after violence and criminal activity broke out May 31st in the downtown area near peaceful protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Attorney David Hassel recently wrote a letter to Mayor Eric Genrich, City Attorney Vanessa Chavez, and Brown County District Attorney David Lasee saying the curfew was “nothing but an excuse to stop people from voicing their support for #BlackLivesMatter and calling attention to systemic racism.”
Hassel writes “the city over-reacted to a situation it was perhaps not prepared to accommodate”, calling the arrests illegal, humiliating and in some instances traumatizing.
The attorney argues the curfew was unconstitutional and was not enforced equally as only Black Lives Matter protesters were arrested, even though others were gathered in groups after the 9 p.m. curfew started each night.
The letter says 14 arrests were made under the curfew.
Hassel is asking for the curfew citations to be dismissed, an expungement of all records relating to any arrest under the curfew, an apology from the city, reasonable compensation for his clients’ time devoted to addressing the charges, reasonable compensation for the actual arrests, and some compensation on a reduced-fee basis for legal work required to get the relief.
City leaders, including Genrich and Police Chief Andrew Smith, have maintained they support peaceful protests, but will arrest anyone who resorts to criminal activity.
Hassel says he has not received a response from the city.
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