ACLU sues Pittsburgh police over post-G-20 conduct

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union says Pittsburgh police wrongly arrested 25 people at or near an anti-police brutality protest just hours after the Group of 20 summit ended in the city last year.

The suit says officers also used unnecessary force, including pepper spray, against some of those arrested.

The 42-page federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday. It says police created most of the problems themselves, surrounding about 100 people with officers in riot gear then ordering them to disperse. The ACLU says those who tried to disperse couldn’t and that five people who were not even at the protest were arrested blocks away.

Officials from the Pittsburgh police and Fraternal Order of Police did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.