Black man assaulted by white nationalist group Patriot Front wins nearly $2.8 million in court

Flint McColgan, Boston Herald on Jan 14, 2025

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BOSTON — The Black man who was shoved and assaulted by a white nationalist group in downtown Boston on Fourth of July weekend won nearly $2.8 million in damages against the group, Patriot Front.

Charles Murrell III, a musician and teacher, sued Patriot Front in August 2023 in federal court. The lawsuit targeted both the group itself as well as its Texas-based leader Thomas Rosseau and the members of the group who marched through Boston that weekend. Those members are named “John Does 1-99” in the suit.

“Mr. Murrell deeply appreciates the court’s decision,” his attorneys wrote in a statement shared with the Herald. “Mr. Murrell brought this lawsuit because he hoped to give individuals like his students ‘the courage and motivation and inspiration to push through and find accountability’ against those who commit acts rooted in hate.

“The ruling does just that. It makes clear that racially motivated attacks like the ones that defendants Patriot Front and Thomas Rousseau perpetrated against Mr. Murrell on July 2, 2022 are a direct violation of the rights guaranteed to all Americans by the United States Constitution,” the statement continued. “And the court’s nearly $3 million award – which includes $2 million in punitive damages – sends an unequivocal message that such behavior is not tolerated in the United States, and that those who engage in such un-American conduct will be held accountable.”

Patriot Front on July 2, 2022, “conducted an unpermitted ‘flash march’ through Boston, Massachusetts, to promote a white supremacist agenda,” U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani summarized in her order this week.

“Seizing control of Boston’s public sidewalks while wearing face coverings and carrying shields, Patriot Front members shoved Plaintiff Charles Murrell, a Black musician who was walking on the sidewalk, up against a light post and into a busy street,” she continued about the violent clash first reported by the Herald.

Talwani awarded Murrell $755,000 in damages for his “physical and psychological injuries, pain and suffering, lost wages, and future earnings,” $2 million in punitive damages and “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs in an amount to be determined.”

The lawsuit, which alleged five counts against the group, had a slow start as Murrell’s attorneys had considerable difficulty serving Rousseau with court papers, as the Herald reported at the time. Finally, the attorneys were allowed to serve the group by email or by messaging the group’s social media accounts.

Murrell’s attorneys finally served Patriot Front via email on Nov. 10, 2023, and by the group’s Telegram account three days later according to court records. Rousseau was personally served at McLennan County Jail in Waco, Texas, in February 2024.

The Herald reported in real time the Patriot Front’s march on Boston, beginning shortly after police scanner chatter came in at around 12:30 p.m. on July 2, 2022, announcing that a group had parked a rental truck in the area of Haymarket MBTA station and offloaded a number of shields and flags, which were then carried by the roughly 100 members of the group.

Soon, a Herald photographer in the area saw the group and captured them marching through the city with flags that included an upside-down American flag, as well as U.S. flags for only the original 13 U.S. colonies. Some flags also featured a stylized version of the symbol that represented Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party.

The group reached the Boston Public Library where Rousseau then grabbed a bullhorn and gave a speech.

“If you truly wish for safety, you will have it. But you can take nothing else with you,” he said then. “Not your home, not your family, not your liberty. There you will be alone with your safety in a rotted world.”

It was around this time that Patriot Front members ran into Murrell.

Murrell said he was knocked to the ground and assaulted after taking out his phone on Dartmouth Street, according to BPD chief spokesman Sgt. Detective John Boyle. Murrell suffered lacerations to his right ring finger, head and eyebrow.

Murrell returned to the area days later along with some of the city’s Black leaders to call for a renewed commitment to protecting “our multiracial democracy,” the Herald reported.

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