WASHINGTON — D.C. police indiscriminately used nonlethal weapons on demonstrators and arrested people who appeared to be breaking no laws during inauguration protests at Franklin Square, according to a civilian review board that oversees the conduct of the District's police force.
In a 16-page report to Mayor Muriel Bowser, the D.C. Council and acting Police Chief Peter Newsham, the Police Complaints Board says its monitors witnessed multiple incidents in which District officers appeared to violate the department's own procedures for ensuring citizen's First Amendment rights.
