ST. LOUIS (AP) – A St. Louis judge on Monday awarded a nearly $23.5 million judgment to a former police officer who was assaulted by a colleague while undercover during a protest.
Luther Hall was attacked and seriously injured in 2017 during one of several protests following the acquittal of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley on murder charges stemming from the shooting death of a black man. I lost it.
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Hall previously settled a separate lawsuit with the city for $5 million. In 2022, he sued three former colleagues, Randy Hayes, Dustin Boone and Christopher Myers, for their involvement in the attack.
Hayes did not respond to the lawsuit despite serving time in prison for civil rights violations, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A judge issued a default judgment in Hall’s favor in February and heard testimony Monday about why Hall should receive damages.
Mr. Hall’s claims against Mr. Boone and Mr. Myers are still pending.
A St. Louis judge has awarded nearly $23.5 million to a former police officer who was assaulted by a colleague while undercover during 2017 protests. (Fox News)
Hall spoke in court Monday of the severe physical and emotional harm he suffered after the beating. He suffered several herniated discs and a jaw injury, leaving him unable to eat. He developed gallstones with complications that required surgery.
Circuit Court Judge Joseph White said: “Mr. Hall had to endure this severe beating, and while it was occurring, he was subjected to violence by his colleagues who he was sworn to serve and protect.” I knew that,” he said.
Mr. Hayes did not attend the hearing. He was sentenced in 2021 to more than four years in prison and is being held in the St. Louis Resident and Re-Entry Department. The department supervises people who have been released from prison and are serving time under house arrest or in nursing homes. He has one year to appeal the ruling.
The attack occurred on September 17, 2017, days after Stockley was found not guilty of fatally shooting 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith on December 20, 2011. Mr Hall was walking back to police headquarters when his uniformed colleague ordered him to “get dressed”. He sits on the ground with his hands up and punches him.
Hayes, Boone, Myers and another officer, Bailey Colletta, were charged in 2018 in connection with Hall’s injury. A fifth officer, Stephen Korte, was charged with civil rights charges and a separate charge of lying to the FBI.
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Mr. Boone was convicted of civil rights charges and sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison. Myers received probation after pleading guilty to a single felony. Colletta was sentenced to probation for lying to the FBI and grand jury about the attack. Mr. Korte was acquitted.
In addition to the settlement with Hall, the city of St. Louis paid nearly $5.2 million last year to settle allegations that its police department violated the rights of dozens of people by trapping them in police “cauldrons” and arresting them. . Some people said they were beaten, pepper sprayed, and attacked with stun guns during various protests downtown after the Stockley ruling.
