Federal lawsuit filed against Kyle Rittenhouse, Facebook, militia groups in aftermath of Kenosha shootings
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KENOSHA, WI (WDJT) — A federal civil rights lawsuit is being filed against Kyle Rittenhouse, Facebook and militia groups in the aftermath of the Kenosha shootings.
The lawsuit lists the defendants as Rittenhouse, Facebook, the Kenosha Guard, former Kenosha alderman Kevin Mathewson, the Boogaloo Bois and a man named Ryan Balch.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday, September 22 identifies the plaintiffs as: Hannah Gittings, the life partner of Anthony Huber, who was shot and killed on August 25, Kenosha native Christopher McNeal who was allegedly harassed by militia members, Milwaukee native Carmen Palmer who was allegedly threatened by militia members and Kenosha resident Nathan Peet who witnessed one of the fatal shootings on August 25.
According to documents filed, the lawsuit states, ‘Defendants Promoted Attendance, Violence, and Imagery Designed to Threaten, Intimidate, and Harass’.
The filing includes several screenshots from social media from the various defendants.
The lawsuit seeks damages for all of the plaintiffs as well as an injunction preventing Facebook from ‘violating its own policies aimed to prevent violent rhetoric, militia groups and other hate groups from congregating and interacting on its site’.
The lawsuit says Facebook was, ‘negligent when it failed to remove the Kenosha Guard home and event pages, despite receiving over 400 reports of the violent rhetoric that was taking place therein’.
It goes on to say, ‘We have an army. We do not need people playing army—particularly when their targets are engaged in the expression of fundamental rights… Defendants Mathewson, Balch, and Rittenhouse also committed civil conspiracy as well as met the elements of intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress’.
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