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Triad Mother, Child Pepper-Sprayed At Trump Inauguration Sue DC Police

In this Jan. 20, 2017, file photo, police fire pepper spray at protestors during a demonstration in downtown Washington after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. AP Photo/John Minchillo

A North Carolina woman and her son who were pepper-sprayed during protests at last year's presidential inauguration in Washington have joined a lawsuit against the District of Columbia police department.

The News & Observer reports a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in June was amended Wednesday to add Gwen Frisbie-Fulton, of Greensboro, and her son, who was 10 on Jan. 20, 2016.

The lawsuit accuses officers with the District's Metropolitan Police Department of corralling protesters into a detention area before arresting them. It also says they failed to give a dispersal order before using pepper spray and flash-bang grenades on demonstrators, violating the District's First Amendment Assemblies Act.

The amended complaint identified 27 officers accused of unconstitutional behavior.

The newspaper did not report the police response.

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