A dozen former Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who were fired after kneeling during a 2020 racial justice protest in Washington are now suing to get their jobs back.
The agents, who were fired in September by Director Kash Patel, say their decision to kneel was intended to de-escalate the situation and was misinterpreted as a form of political expression.
They were assigned to patrol the nation’s capital during a period of civil unrest over the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer, who is White.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington on Monday, said the 12 agents were outnumbered, lacked protective gear and had no extensive training in crowd control. The lawsuit argues that their tactic worked, saying that they “saved American lives” that day.
“Mindful of the potentially catastrophic consequences, plaintiffs knew that a split-second misjudgment by any of them could ignite an already-charged national climate and trigger further violence and unrest,” the lawsuit said.
The agents were forced into a tense scene, the lawsuit alleges, while the crowd became “increasingly agitated” with them. Protesters demanded that they “take a knee,” seen as a gesture of solidarity with Floyd, who was pinned to the ground by police with a knee on his neck.
“The special agents selected the option that prevented casualties while maintaining their law enforcement mission,” the lawsuit says. “Each plaintiff kneeled for apolitical tactical reasons to defuse a volatile situation, not as an expressive political act.”
After photos showed the agents kneeling, the FBI and Justice Department inspector general each reviewed the incident during the Biden administration in 2024, determining that there was no misconduct.
After Mr. Patel joined the Bureau this year, he retaliated against the agents, the lawsuit alleges.
Some of the agents were removed from supervisory positions, and a new investigation was launched. When they were all fired in September, the probe was still pending.
“You have demonstrated unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality in carrying out duties, leading to the political weaponization of government,” Mr. Patel wrote in their dismissal letters.
The lawsuit alleges that the agents’ termination violated their First Amendment rights to free association and their Fifth Amendment right to due process.
They are asking to be reinstated, receive back pay and other monetary damages, as well as an expungement of personnel files related to the firings.
