Dakota Access Pipeline Officer Must Face Excessive Force Claim

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a lower court erred by dismissing a Dakota Access Pipeline protester’s excessive force claim against a North Dakota police officer.

Bismarck, North Dakota police officer Benjamin V. Swenson will have to face Eric Wayne Poemoceah’s Fourth Amendment claim in his individual capacity, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said in their opinion. Judge Jane Kelly said that Poemoceah plausibly alleges he wasn’t resisting arrest and was never given a command that he was under arrest when he was detained at Standing Rock Reservation in 2017.

Poemoceah, an Oklahoma resident and ...