Chester Township resident Rachel Briggs was prepared to speak on behalf of her family unit and others at a Wednesday press conference in Philadelphia, only tears cut her remarks short.

"Today, we start the second lane of our journey to justice. We cannot allow our police to terrorize us in the name of law enforcement," an emotional Briggs said before stepping away from the microphone.

On Wednesday, Philadelphia-based law business firm Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of seven clients from different families — Briggs and six others, including a minor — that alleges Chester Township, the Chester Township Law Department, and individual police officers violated their constitutional rights under the First, Quaternary, and Fourteenth Amendments in 2019 by arresting them for loitering exterior their own homes.

Some members of the Briggs family were arrested twice. 1 Chester Township officeholder, Pasquale Storace, tin exist seen in separate videos of the incidents.

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The suit says police never inquired about the reason the individuals were at the Chester Township locations.

"At that time, we promised that we would defend the family and investigate this incident and hold those responsible to business relationship," chaser Thomas Fitzpatrick said Wednesday. "Since that time, we accept secured the withdrawal of all criminal charges brought against the family unit, and we take learned that the abuse of residents in that community is both systemic and pervasive."

WHYY News reached out to the township and its legal representatives, simply they did non immediately respond Wednesday to a asking for comment.

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Members of the Briggs family were arrested Oct. 3-4, 2019. Less than two weeks earlier, on Sept. 21, the lawsuit says, Brandon Alvin was arrested for loitering in front of his home and assaulted past police as his family watched.

Alvin'south cousin Ed Baldwin, who lives next door, besides was arrested while observing what was happening to Alvin.

"They took Mr. Baldwin into custody, because I guess he wasn't moving fast enough for them. So information technology's not but 1 targeted family unit, but this is happening to Black people in Chester Township, all over the township, and for this to happen iii times in 10 days with the same officeholder, information technology'due south what leads united states to believe that this is pervasive," Fitzpatrick said.

In 2019, the team of attorneys chosen on Pennsylvania Chaser General Josh Shapiro to step in.

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The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, seeks both punitive and compensatory amercement and says that Chester Township's loitering statute is being used to generate municipal acquirement and target Blackness community members.

At the press conference, Fitzpatrick delivered a searing indictment of what he contended is an unconstitutional statute.

"Imagine a local law that allows the police force to exercise discriminatory handling, harass residents, crush them, corruption them, arrest them, and charge them criminally for standing outside of their own homes," Fitzpatrick said.

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(Big Stock/digitalista)

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Chester Township, which shares a school district with the neighboring City of Chester, is home to roughly 4,000 people. Its population is predominantly Black.

In 1990, both Chester Township and the City of Chester enacted loitering ordinances with like language, according to the law firm'southward managing partner, Kevin Mincey.

"Chester City had their loitering statute challenged back in 2003, ruled unconstitutional in 2012. At that place have been no pregnant alterations or amendments to [the] Chester Township loitering statute really since information technology's been enacted," Mincey said. "So we know that the statute is unconstitutional because information technology'south overly vague. And we obviously take seen from the instance hither that the officers are executing that in a discriminatory manner."

Though the business firm said information technology expects to hear from more township residents equally news of the lawsuit spreads to the community.

"We wait a vigorous fight from Chester Township, but nosotros feel very confident in where we stand up on the police force," Mincey said. "Our investigation has been thorough, and we look forward to vigorously prosecuting those who are responsible."