A $40 million federal lawsuit was filed Thursday by protestors in Ferguson, Missouri, claiming that police used excessive force to arrest innocent demonstrators, violating their civil rights.

The death of teenager Michael Brown, a young black man who was unarmed when he was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson, a white policeman, ignited marches and protests in recent weeks against racism and brutality from law enforcement.

Among the five plaintiffs in the suit were protestors as well as others who were confronted by police after walking home or eating out at restaurants. They said they were arrested violently by officers, called racial slurs and hit by rubber bullets.

One such example is Dwayne Anton Matthews Jr., who said he was stopped by eight officers the night of Aug. 13. Matthews had been walking to his mother's home after his usual bus had stopped short due to the ongoing protesting. According to the lawsuit, Matthews was shot with several rubber bullets, causing him to fall in a creek or sewer.

It was then that Matthews said officers "pounced on him, slammed his face into the concrete and pushed his head under water to the point that he felt he was going to be drowned." As reported in Talking Points Memo, Matthews was also called a "coon" and a "mophead," do to his long dreadlocks, by police.

"The police were completely out of control," attorney Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice said. "In those initial days, it was virtually a police riot."

The first several days of protesting prompted police to don riot gear and spray tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds, who were unarmed. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon intervened to give State Highway Patrol authority to secure Ferguson, which temporarily relieved some hostility. However, when St. Louis County police were allowed back on the ground, the instances of violence rose again.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson officer Justin Cosma as well as several unnamed officers identified as "John Doe." The lawsuit also holds city and county governments responsible.