A St. Louis judge has awarded more than $23 million to former St. Louis police officer Luther Hall, who sued the officers who beat him during a 2017 protest.
St. Louis Circuit Judge Joseph Whyte on Monday awarded Hall $10 million in punitive damages, $11 million for past and future physical and emotional pain and almost $2 million for lost wages. Whyte also awarded Hall more than $213,000 for lost delayed retirement and insurance benefits and health insurance benefits, as well as about $366,000 for past and future medical expenses.
Hall, who is Black, sued former officers Randy Hays, Dustin Boon and Christopher Myers, who are white, for beating him while he was working undercover. The beating occurred during a protest after a St. Louis jury found former police officer Jason Stockley not guilty of murder in the death of Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011.
Hall and his lawyers sought a default judgment against Hays, who did not respond to the lawsuit. A federal judge sentenced Hays to more than four years in prison for violating Hall’s civil rights and other charges.
Monday’s ruling follows Hall’s lawsuit against the city in 2019. He said in the federal lawsuit that the officers brutally beat him because he was Black and used excessive force. Hall received a $5 million settlement from the city in 2021.
“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,” said Hall’s lawyer, Lynette Petruska.
Boone was sentenced to 366 days in prison and Myers was sentenced to a year's probation. Former officer Bailey Colletta was also sentenced to three years' probation and two consecutive weekends in prison for lying to a grand jury about what she saw during the assault. Another officer, Stephen Korte, was indicted on civil rights violation charges but was acquitted in 2021.
