Fort Lauderdale cops immune from liability after cracking skull of BLM protester, judge rules

A Miami federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Fort Lauderdale police officers who unleashed tear gas and rubber bullets at Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 can’t be held liable in a lawsuit brought forth by a woman who officers shot in the face with a foam projectile.

U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz, in a decision that was more than 100 pages long, said qualified immunity extinguishes the officers from liability. The tenet dates back to English common law and largely prevents governments from being sued without their consent.

But Ruiz’s decision allowed for the City of Fort Lauderdale to stand trial due to its “policies, procedures and officers’ conduct.” The lawsuit was filed in 2022 by LaToya Ratlieff, whose eye socket was fractured.

Ratlieff and hundreds of people gathered in downtown Fort Lauderdale on May 31, 2020 to demand justice for George Floyd, who was killed days before by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s murder sparked the largest racial justice protests in the United States since the Civil Rights Movement — as it spearheaded thousands of Black Lives Matter demonstrations around the country.

READ MORE: ‘They ignited the situation’: Fort Lauderdale police cracked skull of peaceful protester

In the order, Ruiz noted that the evidence in the case indicated “a disturbing lack of professionalism” among officers working at the protest.

One pushed a kneeling woman without provocation, the judge stated. Others agitated the crowd. Vital witnesses didn’t turn their body cameras on that day.

On the footage available, several officers were heard laughing and joking about shooting protesters with rubber bullets, with one even saying,“Did you see me f--k up those motherf-----s?”

The officer accused of shooting Ratlieff, according to the order, turned his body camera on three minutes after she had been shot.

The Fort Lauderdale Police Department hasn’t responded to the Miami Herald’s request for comment as of Wednesday afternoon.

In a statement, attorneys Michael Davis, Stuart Ratzan and Benedict Kuehne said Ruiz’s ruling was “a significant victory” that allows for Ratlieff’s case to go before a jury. The legal team also said it is confident that jurors “will unequivocally recognize the gravity of the misconduct and deliver the justice that LaToya deserves.”

“Qualified immunity continues to be a vexing and unjust barrier for citizens harmed by police misconduct,” Davis, Ratzan and Kuehne said in the statement. “However, today’s ruling confirms that despite these challenges, justice will prevail for LaToya Ratlieff. The court’s decision reaffirms her commitment to seeking redress and ensuring that those responsible for are brought to justice...”

A chaotic scene

Although there had been no violent incidents during the 2021 rally, police have maintained that their heavy-handed tactics that evening were a response to an officer “screaming for help” over the radio as protesters attacked her unmarked police car, pounding on windows and jumping on the vehicle.

During an interview with attorneys, the officer who made the initial distress call admitted that she never actually saw anyone damaging her vehicle or jumping on the trunk as described in her incident report, according to court documents from an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit that Ratlieff filed in 2022. A forensic analysis of synchronized video and audio from the scene shows no evidence that protesters were surrounding the vehicle, which the officer reported when she radioed for backup.

READ MORE: A Fort Lauderdale cop reported an attack by BLM protesters. Now, the story’s changing

The analysis, commissioned by Ratlieff’s attorneys and submitted as evidence, confirmed the findings of a Miami Herald investigation based on publicly available images at the time: the hours of violence between police and rally-goers erupted after an officer pushed a kneeling protester, prompting an angry response from the crowd. Video evidence shows police arriving to the scene following the distress call then began to deploy tear gas and hard-packed projectiles without warning.

Ratlieff’s lawsuit isn’t the only one connected to the protest.

In June, attorney Michael Davis announced that he filed a federal class action lawsuit against the City of Fort Lauderdale and its police department over officers’ response to the May 31, 2020 rally. Ratlieff is also part of that suit.

At the time, Ratlieff asserted the lawsuit is not merely focused on holding cops accountable for their wrongdoings, but also safeguarding Americans’ right to express dissent against injustices.

“If people aren’t even able to stand up and say that something isn’t right ...then where are we as a country?” Ratlieff said.