G20 Protesters Sue Police Department For $1.4 Million – Lawsuit Claims They Were ‘Profiled For Having Hairy Legs”
A group of female G20 protesters are suing the Toronto Police Department for $1.4 million because they claim the law enforcement officers “profiled” and arrested them based upon their alleged hairy legs. The “hairy legs” lawsuit field by seven friends, both male and female, was initiated after the G20 summit in Canada. The G20 lawsuit maintains the protesters were placed in a jail cell after they showed up to make their voices heard at the gathering of world leaders, the Daily Mail reports.
G20 “hairy legs” profiling lawsuit attorney Davin Charney claims the Toronto police profiled the group and used their alleged hair stubble as a cause for detainment. The lawsuit also claims the use of profiling is a violation of the G20 protesters civil rights. Lawsuit plaintiff Alicia Ridge claims she was targeted based solely on the fact that Canadian law enforcement officers considered her legs hairy according to CTV.
“It was a fairly pathetic rendition of a search, in that it was just a quick run of a hand up the leg followed by a swift a** grab. And there were lots of sexualized comments that went along with it,” Alicia Ridge stated during the CTV interview.
Charney also claims the Toronto police officers involved with crowd control during the G20 summit said “shave your legs, you dykes” to the “hairy legs” lawsuit plaintiffs, according to the Daily Mail.
The G20 protests drew crowds as large at 10,000 people. Toronto police officers arrested approximately 1,000 G20 protesters, the largest mass detainment in Canadian history.
A Toronto police review board revealed that a law enforcement officer wrote “all of the subjects appear to be protesters. Backpacks, clothing and all of the females have hairy legs,” in his notebook. CTV reports the officer said he noted the shared physical description because it had been a “common trait” among the G20 protesters he had arrested earlier. The Toronto Police Department is not issuing any comments about the ongoing “hairy legs” lawsuit.
