Veteran who raised funds for DAPL protest sues Bismarck
BISMARCK, N.D. – A former Marine who launched a fundraising effort to bring military veterans to join a protest camp of the Dakota Access Pipeline has sued the city of Bismarck and a rental company over a rental car dispute that resulted in a warrant for his arrest.
Michael Wood Jr., who was also a former Baltimore police officer, raised $1.2 million as part of a “Veterans Standing for Standing Rock” campaign to support the pipeline protest.
However, a dispute over a suburban Wood rented, then abandoned after a blizzard hit the protest camp, led to Bismarck police issuing a warrant for his arrest for car theft. Wood is suing the city, police department, Hertz rental car and its Bismarck franchisee Overland West Inc. for violating his rights to free speech and due process in retaliation for supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Bismarck City Attorney Jannelle Combs declined comment, saying she had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
Hertz in a statement said it, along with the franchisee, would “vigorously defend” against the allegations. It said that after an initial review of the lawsuit, “there appears to be a serious misrepresentation of the facts.”
