A judge awarded a Black former St. Louis police officer a $23.5 million default judgment for injuries sustained when he was beaten by other St. Louis officers while he worked undercover at a 2017 demonstration protesting a cop being acquitted after shooting a Black man, the Associated Press reports.
Luther Hall secured the judgment against a former officer already locked up for civil rights violations, Randy Hays, who never responded to the lawsuit. Hall says Hays and two other officers, Dustin Boone and Christopher Myers, beat him so severely at the 2017 protest they herniated discs in his back and caused a jaw injury that left him unable to eat, injuries that required multiple surgeries to repair. Hall’s lawsuits against Boone and Myers are pending; he secured a $5 million settlement with the city.
Hall was working undercover at a demonstration protesting the acquittal of former St. Louis officer Jason Stockley, who claims he saw 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith reach between the seats of his car, believing–but not seeing–Smith was grabbing a gun. Stockley shot five times, killing Smith.