Former St Louis undercover officer gets $23m after beating by police colleagues

A Missouri judge awarded more than $23m to a former St Louis police officer who was beaten by other officers while working undercover at a protest in 2017.

On Monday Luther Hall was awarded the significant sum in a default judgment by Joseph Whyte, the St Louis circuit judge, after one of the defendants failed to respond to a lawsuit over the 2017 attack.

“Mr Hall had to endure this severe beating and while that was happening, he knew it was being administered by his colleagues who were sworn to serve and protect,” Whyte said.

Hall was severely injured by his own colleagues while undercover at a protest following the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a white police officer who shot and killed 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith, a Black man.

Hall was pinned to the ground by officers and beaten with a baton, suffering permanent injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, Buzzfeed News reported.

Last year, the St Louis police department reopened an internal investigation into the incident, KSDK reported.

In a 2022 interview with KMOV, Hall said that officers at the 2017 demonstration were simply out to hurt protesters.

“I could have been anybody, but being Black definitely didn’t help,” Hall said.

Officers also lied on an incident report about Hall’s assault, writing that “Hall was knocked to the ground striking the concrete” as officers were making arrests.

Hall previously sued the city of St Louis in 2021 over the attack, later reaching a $5m settlement agreement.

In 2022 Hall sued three former law enforcement colleagues for their roles in the assault: Randy Hays, Dustin Boone and Christopher Myers, who are all white.

Hays did not respond to Hall’s lawsuit, despite being served while incarcerated for his role in the assault. In 2021, Hays was sentenced to four years in prison for using unreasonable and excessive force against Hall.

Boone was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for a civil rights charge related to the attack, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Myers received probation for his role in the assault.

Hall’s claims against Boone and Myers are ongoing.

Lawyer Lynette Petruska issued a statement on Hall’s behalf after Monday’s judgement, saying: “Luther is grateful that Judge Whyte took his brutal assault by fellow officers and its life-changing consequences more seriously than the city of St Louis and the St Louis police department did.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting