By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A court hearing is planned for this morning (Monday) in St. Louis over a lawsuit filed on behalf of a number of homeless people.
They claim St. Louis City police harassed them to get them to leave downtown during the Fourth of July. The suit claims dozens of homeless people were arrested just before that holiday weekend as a way to get them out of downtown during Fair St. Louis.
Mayor Francis Slay is among several defendants in the lawsuit, which claims police threw firecrackers at homeless people in a park, then rounded them up and arrested them.
The St. Louis Police department says the allegations are unfounded. The department says police have a duty to the public to enforce the law and carry out the duty in a lawful manner.