“We became activists to bring awareness of police brutality, and in way too many instances, became survivors of it,” said Kris Hendrix, a St. Louis activist and mother of three.
Six years ago in May of 2015, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) officers repeatedly tasered our client, Kris Hendrix, while she was leaving a protest during the Ferguson uprising. She was violated by the very thing she was protesting— police brutality. ACD represented her as the City criminally prosecuted her for two years on the bogus charges brought against her. After securing acquittals on all charges, we filed a lawsuit on her behalf in May 2017, went to a jury trial in February 2020, and won a judgment against one SLMPD officer.
The City has since appealed, arguing the judge should not have let the case go to trial, and continues to defend the police officers’ actions. Despite a general rule that parties bear the costs of their own litigation, the City on appeal is advancing a legal argument that Ms. Hendrix has to pay tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees. This is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate her and others from standing up against police brutality. Two days ago, our Staff Attorney Maureen Hanlon argued in the Missouri Court of Appeals that a jury was right to hear Ms. Hendrix’s claim and that the City has no legal right to go after Ms. Hendrix for thousands of dollars in legal fees.
We will continue to stand with Ms. Hendrix as she courageously challenges injustice.
