Charles Murrell III, the Black musician assaulted by neo-Nazis in Boston two years ago, said he’s relieved to have won a significant judgement in his federal lawsuit against those who attacked him.
“Relief is the biggest word that comes to mind,” Murrell told GBH News. “What it was about for us was creating a clear trail, a clear precedent. And that trail has been set.”
On Monday, a federal judge awarded Murrell $2.76 million in punitive and actual damages against the neo-Nazi group, Patriot Front and its leader, Thomas Rousseau, for violating his civil rights by attacking him in Boston’s Back Bay in 2022.
The video showed the group “pinning Murrell against a light post and pushing him into the busy road, to promote the view that non-white individuals like Murrell should be subordinated to white people,” US District Judge Indira Talwani wrote in the 27-page decision.
Patriot Front members gathered for a “flash march” in July 2022 carrying shields, flags and signs that read “Reclaim America” on Dartmouth Street in Boston.
Murrell testified last October during the case in U.S. District Court in Boston that he was on his way to play saxophone near the Boston Public Library when he saw the group moving towards him on the sidewalk as they marched to a snare drum.
He tried to record the group with his cellphone but was too nervous to successfully unlock his phone when one of the attackers called him “tar baby,” Murrell recounted.
Members of the group then blocked the public sidewalk from both ends, circled Murrell and pushed him back more than two car lengths as they shouted, “Don’t break ranks!” He said they would not let him walk on the sidewalk and was terrified that he’d be pushed into oncoming traffic.
“I thought I was going to die,” Murrell testified in court.
Murrell said that this kind of trauma is not anything new or uncommon in the Black community.
“I think that’s why it was so important that I was vocal about what happened, because I think it’s all too often we’ve become desensitized to this type of continual hunt out, seeking and destroying kind of mentality,” Murrell said.
Rousseau never appeared in court to respond to the charges and other members of Patriot Front were referred to as “John Doe” defendants in the civil lawsuit. GBH News was unable to determine where Rousseau currently resides but prior reports have said he lives in Texas.
Talwani wrote that Murrell continues to suffer both physical and psychological problems from the attack, like the inability to play his saxophone because those injuries force his hand to lock up.
“She found that Patriot Front’s attack of Murrell caused him psychological damage and distress—damage and distress that have devastated his ability to earn a living, dampened his passion for music, caused him to isolate himself from family and friends, and generally hindered his ability to function and make decisions day-to-day,” Talwani wrote, citing a clinician’s report.
Murrell faces the challenge of trying to collect on the ruling and it’s unclear what assets Rousseau, Patriot Front, or the other unknown defendants may have. But right now, he said he is just trying to stay in the present.
“I’m not really prepared to live in that subjective realm of why they didn’t show up to court or, if anything will be collected because I can just go off of evidence of them not showing up,” Murrell said. “I can just move forward knowing that it gives me more confidence to do the work.”
Murrell said, overall, Talwani’s decision made history.
“Her judgment really sets a serious tone for folks who want to use violence as a means to their political beliefs in our country,” he said. “Particularly against, in this case, Black and brown individuals, indigenous people, queer folks, women, anybody.”
