Judge Tosses Suit Alleging Excessive Force During Dakota Access Pipeline Protest

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge in North Dakota has thrown out the remainder of a lawsuit by an Arizona man who alleged excessive force was used against him when he was protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline.

In 2019, Marcus Mitchell sued several law enforcement officers, the city of Bismarck and Morton County. He alleged officers targeted him during a January 2017 clash and struck him in his left eye with a bean bag round, injuring him. His lawsuit alleged excessive force was used and that Mitchell’s constitutional rights were violated.

In 2020, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor granted motions to dismiss Mitchell’s complaint. But in 2022, a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed part of the judge’s ruling and sent some of Mitchell’s claims back to a lower court to be reconsidered.

The defense denied Mitchell’s allegations earlier this year and asked the judge to throw out the case.

On Tuesday, Traynor granted the defense motions for summary judgment and tossed the case. Mitchell failed to show that either of two officers he accused intended to hurt him, the judge ruled. He found that the officers did not use excessive force and that the force they did use was reasonable.

The Associated Press emailed requests for comment to attorneys for both sides.

In 2016 and 2017, construction of the Dakota Access pipeline drew thousands of people to camp out and protest near the project’s controversial Missouri River crossing, which is upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the oil pipeline as a threat to its water. Hundreds of people were arrested in connection with the monthslong protests.

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