February 14, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; General view of police cars after shots were fired following the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory celebration in Super Bowl LVIII. Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee-Keynote USA Sports via Keynote USA
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Keynote USA) — Missouri lawmakers will have to pay out of pocket if they lose defamation cases filed against them for falsely accusing a Kansas man of being one of the shooters at the Kansas City Chiefs parade and an immigrant in the country illegally. .
Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson on Monday told his administration not to use taxpayer money to pay for possible damages awarded to Denton Loudermill Jr. of Olathe, Kansas, as part of his lawsuits against three state legislators. .
But Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office will continue to represent state senators, even though Parson earlier this month called that “problematic.”
“We are not going to attack innocent people in this state,” Parson told reporters earlier this month. “This gentleman did nothing wrong other than go to a parade, drink beer and be inspected.”
The Feb. 14 shooting outside historic Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, killed a well-known DJ and injured more than 20 people, many of them children.
READ MORE: Three Men Face Gun Charges After Investigation Into Kansas City Chiefs Parade Shooting
Loudermill, who was never cited or arrested for the shooting, is seeking at least $75,000 in damages in each of the lawsuits.
“Missourians should not be held responsible for legal expenses resulting from convictions due to state senators who falsely attacked a private citizen on social media,” Parson wrote in a letter Monday to his commissioner of administration.
Last month, Loudermill filed nearly identical federal lawsuits against three Republican Missouri state senators: Rick Brattin of Harrisonville; Denny Hoskins, of Warrensburg; and Nick Schroer of St. Charles County.
The complaints say Loudermill suffered “humiliation, embarrassment, insult and inconvenience” from the “highly offensive” posts.
A spokesperson for the Missouri attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to an Keynote USA request for comment Monday on Parson’s request not to pay for possible damages or the lawsuits filed against the senators.
Loudermill sat paralyzed for so long after gunshots erupted that police had time to tape the crime scene, according to the lawsuits. As he tried to go under the tape to get out, officers stopped him and told him he was moving “too slow.”
READ MORE: In Missouri, gun laws take center stage after another shooting
They handcuffed him and put him on the sidewalk, where people began taking pictures and posting them on social media. Loudermill was eventually escorted out of the area and told he was free to leave.
But posts soon began appearing on lawmakers’ accounts on the social platform
Loudermill, who was born and raised in the United States, received death threats even though he was not involved in the shooting, according to the complaints.
The litigation described him as a “contributing member of his African American family, a family with deep and long roots in his Kansas community.”
Left: February 14, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; General view of police cars after shots were fired following the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory celebration in Super Bowl LVIII. Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee-Keynote USA Sports via Keynote USA
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