Court finds North Texas hate group liable for nearly $3 million in attack on Black musician
A federal judge has ordered a North Texas-based white supremacist group to pay nearly $3 million to a Black musician they are accused of attacking in Massachusetts in 2022, court documents state.
Patriot Front and its leader, Thomas Rousseau of Grapevine, failed to respond to a lawsuit filed by the musician in 2023. As a result, Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a default judgment in a Jan. 13 court order. The judgment awards Charles Murrell $755,000 for physical and psychological injuries and $2 million in punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.
Patriot Front is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
According to court documents, Rousseau and approximately 100 members of the white nationalist organization were in Boston for a demonstration on July 2, 2022. They took over public sidewalks without permission from the city and marched down the street carrying flags, shields and signs that read “Reclaim America.”
Murrell, a classical saxophone player, was on his way to play outside the Boston Public Library when he encountered the group. One of the Patriot Front members called him a racial slur, and the group pushed the saxophonist into the street, court documents state. When Murrell tried to get back on the sidewalk, members of the group shoved him into a light post, knocked him down and hit and kicked him while he was on the ground, according to the documents.
Patriot Front later posted footage from the incident on its website, but no one was criminally prosecuted for participating in the attack.
Murrell testified that he feared for his life during the attack, according to court documents. Injuries he sustained have made it difficult for him to play the saxophone for a living as he had previously.
Rousseau was arrested in Weatherford in 2020 after members of the Parker County Sheriff’s Department said they saw him and two other men place stickers on county property. In June 2022, Rousseau and other Patriot Front members were arrested in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on suspicion of conspiring to riot at a nearby gay pride event.
This story was originally published January 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM.
