Man sues over alleged beating during G20

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A bank employee has filed the first lawsuit alleging physical brutality by police during last year's Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh, his lawyer said.

Frank Beal, 57, says he was sprayed with tear gas, knocked down and then hit repeatedly with a nightstick, breaking his kneecap, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. A complaint filed Monday in federal court names the city and Harrisburg, Pa., police Officer Edward V. Grynkewicz III, one of many officers brought in from other Pennsylvania departments to assist with security.

Sam Hens-Greco, Beal's lawyer, said he was an observer at the protests. The lawyer said Beal was following another police officer's instructions at the time he was beaten in an area that had been peaceful up to that point.

"I can't even say he got swept up in the action, because there was no action to be swept up in," Hens-Greco said.

Charges of resisting arrest were later dropped.

A number of lawsuits have been filed against the city for its tactics during the G-20 summit, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said. But the newspaper said this is the first seeking damages for physical violence by police.

An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer said the group expects to file a number of brutality suits and expects more from private lawyers.