The plaintiff alleges that the plaintiffs planned, planned, and attacked military groups to attack the August 25 protesters. The defendants “made it difficult to distinguish between the army and the police.”
Rittenhouse was arrested in his home state of Illinois and an extradition hearing is scheduled for Friday.
Attorney Lynn Wood told CNN he represents Rittenhouse in his civil suit.
“As far as Kyle Rattenhouse is concerned, this claim is a false objection but there could be a golden opportunity to obtain documents and give an affidavit to promote Kyle’s future defamation suit for falsely accusing Facebook of mass murder,” Wood said. “Thus, I see the lawsuit as a blessing in disguise.”
Facebook, the complaint said, provided a social media platform that allowed groups to organize violence and refused to take action even after more than 400 complaints about the Kenosha Guard.
A Facebook spokesperson said: “We removed the shooter’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and took action against organizations and content related to Canosha. We found no evidence to indicate that the shooter followed the Kenosha guard page or invited them to the event page they organized.” . ”
The lawsuit includes screenshots of social media posts that help create a timeline of what happened in Kenosha, plaintiff’s attorney Jason Flores-Williams told CNN.
Defendant Kevin Matthewson, a self-proclaimed “commander of the Kenosha Guard,” created a Facebook event page on the evening of August 25 called “Armed Citizens to Protect Our Lives and Property.”
The lawsuit alleges that Matthewson’s “call for weapons” and his desire to “stand up to the evil thugs” were taken over by Alt-Right media site Inforvers. Flores-Williams said Inforvers has given the movement national attention, encouraging and organizing individuals to “take matters into their own hands and take to the streets” with the intention of intimidating and harassing peaceful opponents such as their customers.
Matthews told CNN on Wednesday that he would be advised by his attorney not to speak to the media. He will not provide his lawyer’s name.
The lawsuit alleges that defendant Ryan Balch – a member of the Bagnolo Boise extremist group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s hat-watch page – described his involvement in the Kenosha protest in a Facebook post as “joining the army.” Kenosha and “involved (himself) in the role of strategic advisor.” According to the complaint, the group included Rattenhouse.
Balch could not be reached by CNN phone and did not respond to emails.
Balach describes in his August 26 post – the day after the protests – working with Rittenhouse to “bury the aid station set” to provide first aid and rest to injured Black Lives Matter protesters and members of Antifa and help them get to the hospital. . He also claimed on Facebook that he had been attacked by “protesters” with domestic chemical weapons.
The lawsuit alleges that Rittenhouse “shot and killed two protesters” under the “strategic supervision of Defendant Balch.”
Despite naming him as a defendant, Flores-Williams said he felt bad for Rattenhouse. “He’s 17 years old and drowning in this, it’s sad,” he said. “I hope he gets the help he needs.”
Flores-Williams said the lawsuits are aimed at holding people responsible for intimidating and harassing people standing in the streets and supporting organizations to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We don’t want more armed wildly irrational racist groups than our troops in Afghanistan,” Flores-Williams said. “I love my country. It annoys me that these people label themselves as patriots.”
Plaintiffs – Hannah Gitting, Christopher McNeil, Nathan Pete and Carmen Palmer – say their constitutional right to be “free from violence, intimidation and harassment” was violated and they suffered emotional distress.
They are looking for an indefinite amount of damage.
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