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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Fred Hampton Jr. Sues Oakland Police

OAKLAND, Calif. (CN) - Oakland and Emeryville police held Fred Hampton Jr. at gunpoint because he came to California to "speak out against killings by the Oakland Police Department," Hampton and three others claim in court.

Fred Hampton Jr., Nyoka Lowery, Dawn Scott and Ramal Lamar sued Oakland and Emeryville in Federal Court.

Hampton is the son of Fred Hampton, the Black Panther Party leader who was shot to death in 1969 by Chicago police and FBI agents while he slept, the complaint states. Black Panther member Mark Clark also was killed by police in what was widely viewed as a political assassination. No one was ever charged. Fred Hampton Jr. was born a month later.

Hampton claims police stopped him and his co-plaintiffs near the Oakland-Emeryville border at about 4 p.m. on Jan. 21, and held them at gunpoint in a Target parking lot.

"The police claim that the reason they stopped the plaintiffs was that a stolen cell phone had been tracked to that location. However, the police detained the plaintiffs in a crowded parking lot and did not make any attempt to determine whether the plaintiffs had a stolen cell phone in their possession."

The police held them for 3 hours, and roughed up Dawn Scott, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs say they "were stopped and harassed by the police without probable or reasonable cause in retaliation for their political activism."

They claim the "harassment was organized by high ranking members of the OPD and EPD."

They seek an injunction, medical expenses, and compensatory and punitive damages for civil rights violations, battery by a police officer, false imprisonment and negligence.

They are represented by Dan Siegel with Siegel & Yee.

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