Violent white nationalist group forced to pay Black musician millions after attack: report
The Patriot Front and its leader, Thomas Rousseau, lost $2.75 million after a federal court issued a judgment against them for the attack on classically trained saxophonist Charles Murrell, Rolling Stone reported Monday.
Murrell was en route to a public library in Boston on the Fourth of July weekend in 2022 when Rosseau led an unpermitted "flash mob" in the area. They shouted racist epithets at the musician — including "tar baby" — while surrounding him and backing him into the street, the court findings said.
The group then pushed him into a concrete, light post, where they then began punching and kicking him.
Boston police did not intervene or go after the attackers after the fact. One body camera showed footage of a single officer asking Murrell if he needed medical services.
The police report claimed after the fact that the “incident appeared to be more likely than not motivated in whole or in part by Anti-Black bias,” yet the attack was never treated as a hate crime.
"Murrell, who is in his 30s, sustained physical injuries in the attack, including a sprained right middle finger (which was also lacerated), cuts to his head and an eyebrow, and bruises across his face and arms. The hand injury still impairs his ability to play the saxophone for long sessions. In court, Murrell described more serious and lasting psychological injuries that have impaired his sleep and personal relationships," said Rolling Stone.
Patriot Front, which has been labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, terrorized Murrell to such a degree that he's "isolated himself from family and friends," a doctor testified.
The judge ruled that the high damages were “necessary to deter similar acts in the future” and highlighted that Rosseau "glorified the attack" by posting videos of the attack to further the group's ideology that non-white people "should be subordinated to white people."