Officer Injured in Alton Sterling Protest Can Sue Organizer

An officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department who was injured during a protest over the fatal officer-involved shooting of Alton Sterling in 2016 may pursue a negligence claim in court against the protest organizer, a federal appeals court ruled.

According to the Times-Picayune , the officer was struck in the face by a blunt object—reportedly a piece of concrete or a rock—during the protest. He reportedly lost several teeth and suffered other head injuries.

The officer—listed in the lawsuit as "John Doe"—is seeking undisclosed damages from Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson for lost wages and "other compensable losses."

In the ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—which reverses a federal judge’s earlier decision to toss the lawsuit—the judges wrote, "By ignoring the foreseeable risk of violence that his actions created, Mckesson failed to exercise reasonable care in conducting his demonstration."