Email messages show awareness that Prosecuting Attorney Susan Baur was overreaching her role; Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig acknowledged that treatment of ILWU members was “much more affirmative” and “intentional” than standard procedure
LONGVIEW, WA (March 1, 2012) – Yesterday, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union asked the federal court for leave to add Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorney Susan Baur and Chief Criminal Deputy Charlie Rosenzweig as defendants in the union’s ongoing civil rights lawsuit against public and law enforcement agencies for police misconduct and violations of free speech rights of ILWU members arising from the recently settled labor dispute with EGT at the Port of Longview.
“The public records we recently obtained show that the local police and Prosecuting Attorney Baur took it upon themselves to be judge, jury and punisher against ILWU members accused of non-violent misdemeanors like trespassing,” said ILWU Coast Committeeman Leal Sundet. “The punishment included abusive physical arrest of our members days and weeks after the trespass supposedly occurred.”
The current lawsuit, filed on September 22, 2011, alleges that Cowlitz County, the City of Longview, their law enforcement agencies, and certain police officials, including County Sheriff Mark Nelson, carried out a campaign of harassment and abuse against ILWU members in response to their public demonstrations and free speech activities related to the EGT labor dispute. In particular, the lawsuit alleges, based on eye-witness accounts and police documents, that rather than simply mailing misdemeanor arrest citations as per established practice, Defendants began physically pursuing and arresting, in intentionally abusive and brutal ways, ILWU members for non-violent misdemeanors, such as allegations of trespassing for demonstrating on EGT or Port of Longview property.
Local law enforcement carried out the abusive arrest procedures to punish ILWU members for their public protests and alleged trespassing before a court had a chance to evaluate the evidence and determine guilt or innocence. Arrests were made sometimes weeks or months after the alleged trespassing had occurred. Law enforcement continued the aggressive and abusive arrest campaign even after the ILWU offered in writing that all union members would voluntarily surrender to law enforcement.
The ILWU’s motion to the court presents new evidence, including internal police email messages that show that Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorney Baur and Chief Criminal Deputy Rosenzweig personally and actively participated in the development and implementation of the unlawful arrest procedures against ILWU members. Examples:
- One email, dated September 9, 2011, from Chief Criminal Deputy Rosenzweig to a captain at the Washington State Patrol, described the campaign against ILWU members as “much more affirmative” and “intentional” than standard police actions.
- The public records also disclose that Prosecuting Attorney Baur regularly attended meetings with police and public authorities concerning the new arrest procedures against ILWU members. One internal document, dated September 20, 2011, expressed a concern that Baur’s “attendance could step outside our boundaries for liability.” In spite of this concern, Baur continued her involvement in the police actions against ILWU members, stepping far outside her role as prosecutor.
By adding Baur and Rosenzweig as defendants in the lawsuit, ILWU hopes to hold all responsible parties accountable for these serious civil rights violations to deter future violations by public authorities. The court is expected to rule sometime in late March on the ILWU’s request to add Baur and Rosenzweig as defendants in the litigation.
ILWU Coast Longshore Division News release
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