Vancouver Reporter

A Vancouver attorney has filed a lawsuit against the Washington State Patrol, alleging that the agency facilitated an illegal mass gathering when they shut down I-5 on June 19 during a Black Lives Matter protest.

D. Angus Lee sued the police agency claiming that closing the federal freeway created a mass gathering that violated Gov. Jay Inslee’s orders issued to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.  Lee seeks an injunction preventing the state patrol from taking similar action in the future, Clark County Today reported. 

In an email complaint from WSP Captain Jason Linn to WSP Chief John Batiste, on June 18, WSP’s involvement with the ass gathering would involve closing Interstate 5 if needed. The complaint also alleges that the day before the mass gathering, WSP circulated a 15-page action plan entitled “Interstate 5 Protest Closure Action Plan.’’

“It is simply shocking that the WSP thinks it has the authority to actively and openly facilitate any violation of an emergency proclamation and state law, let alone a mass violation,” Lee told Clark County Today in an email. “No matter how noble the cause of any gathering may be, it is simply not up to the WSP to recklessly put the public health of the community at risk by actively facilitating a mass gathering in violation of State law.”