Boulder – A prominent civil rights attorney said Wednesday that he will sue the University of Colorado for the way it treated students after a marijuana rally on campus April 20.
Perry Sanders Jr., best known for representing the family of slain rapper Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace in a suit against the Los Angeles Police Department, said CU violated students’ constitutional rights to assembly when it closed Farrand Field to keep rally-goers away.
He also said CU police officers have harassed students who attended the rally in recent weeks. And he criticized the police department’s decision to post 200 pictures of rally-goers on a website and offer a $50 reward to anybody who could identify them.
“This is killing ants with a sledgehammer, even if you think they did something wrong,” Sanders said.
The April 20 rally, in which hundreds of students and others gathered on Farrand Field to smoke marijuana and protest drug laws, is an annual ritual that frustrates CU officials.
This year, CU closed the field and posted no-trespassing signs, CU police Lt. Tim McGraw said. Officers monitored the situation, took pictures of those in attendance and made two arrests – one of a man police say first removed one of the barricades sealing off the field and one of a man they say was streaking.
Police posted pictures from the rally on a website and provided a link on the popular Facebook.com. McGraw said the department took the site down Wednesday morning after seeing a drop in responses.
McGraw said the offense in question is not smoking marijuana but trespassing because people were at Farrand Field when it was closed.
McGraw said authorities opted not to try to arrest everybody smoking marijuana.
“Given the resource limitations we have, it’s difficult for us to take an enforcement posture,” he said.
Sanders said many students who were not smoking marijuana have become embroiled in the police investigation. He hopes to file his lawsuit in federal court within the next two weeks.
A news conference he held Wednesday at Farrand Field attracted the attention of several students who had been at Farrand Field on the day of the rally. A few approached him after the event to ask for help in dealing with the police.
“When they charge you with trespassing on a field that’s right outside your dorm, that’s ridiculous,” said a CU freshman who attended the rally. He said police haven’t contacted him about it yet, but he asked to remain anonymous.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
