Rock Hill police were attacked first, city says in response to suit over 2021 viral arrest

Rock Hill responded to a lawsuit filed by a man whose 2021 arrest caught on viral video caused three days of protests by saying police defended themselves after the man attacked first.

On June 23, 2021, Rock Hill police arrested Ricky Roderick Price on drug and weapon charges after a traffic stop before officers and Price brawled in a parking lot. Charges were dropped in late 2023.

Ricky Price filed the lawsuit in federal court in Columbia last month, claiming his civil rights were violated and he was maliciously prosecuted. Price claimed the traffic stop was illegal and then he was a victim of police brutality after trying to comply. He wants monetary damages from the city for alleged physical and mental harm.

But lawyers for the city of Rock Hill said in a response filed in court late last week Ricky Price violently punched officers first and police had to fight back to avoid being hurt or killed. The city also claimed the traffic stop was legal. It wants a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.

The city has already paid $500,000 to settle a separate lawsuit from Price’s brother, Travis, who was also arrested that day in 2021 before charges were dropped.

Rock Hill: Officers fought fearing injury or death

Price “was placed under arrest and jailed for a period of time in part as a result of aggressively and violently fighting and striking law enforcement officers,” the city said in court filings.

Officers “at all times used reasonable force and necessary force to defend from a threat of assault and/or serious bodily harm,” the city said.

Ricky Price was handcuffed and in custody that day in a convenience store parking lot on Willowbrook Avenue before the handcuffs were taken off so he could give personal items to his brother before he was taken to jail. Video taken by a bystander then posted online showed the melee between Ricky Price and police after an officer slammed Travis Price to the ground.

Two weeks later, York County prosecutors released additional body camera videos that showed the brawl between Ricky Price and several officers. The police videos show officers and Ricky Price fighting before he is subdued as a police K-9 dog is released.

Ricky Price and his lawyer maintain police had no legal reason to pull over his car. Then police released the dog to attack him and he was injured.

Rock Hill protests

After the bystander video went viral the day of the fight, people marched around downtown Rock Hill for three nights protesting police tactics in dealing with African-Americans. The confrontations became so heated police wore riot gear.

The arrests happened just over a year after George Floyd died in Minnesota while in police custody, prompting nationwide protests over law enforcement accountability in dealing with Black people. In May 2020, before the Price brothers’ incident, more than over 1,000 people marched around Rock Hill demanding accountability from law enforcement and creation of a citizen review board to look at police use of force.

That review board was created and remains in existence, but an examination of public records by The Herald showed the citizen board was never asked to review the 2021 Price brothers interactions with police.

What happens now

The federal lawsuit is one of two filed by Ricky Price against the city. He sued in a separate state court civil action in York County alleging malicious prosecution under South Carolina state laws. That state court suit remains pending also but the city has not yet filed a written response.

Court-ordered mediation is ongoing in the federal lawsuit. Both sides have until April 2025 to identify experts needed for trial and hand over records and documents to each other, U.S. Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges ordered last week.

No trial date has been set.