City paid $220,000 to man punched by Louisville officer who later struck Breonna Taylor protester

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A man repeatedly punched by a former Louisville Metro Police officer in 2018 received a $220,000 settlement from Metro government to settle an excessive force lawsuit late last year.

Jarrus Ransom was arrested at a west Louisville Kroger at the intersection of South 27th Street and West Broadway. Body camera video appears to show officers dragging Ransom to the ground, followed by several punches thrown by one officer, Cory Evans.

Evans also has a pending lawsuit for striking an unarmed, kneeling protester on the head with a riot stick and then repeatedly lying to his superiors about it during the 2020 civil unrest after the death of Breonna Taylor.

The November settlement agreement, obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act and previously unreported, stipulated that the payment did not amount to an admission of liability from the city.

According to an arrest report, Ransom was acting suspicious and allowed police to search his car. That's when police say they noticed liquid on his pants, found an open Pepsi can in the SUV and emptied it onto the ground.

Officers say three pills fell out of the can, and Ransom broke from the officer's grip, rammed his shoulder into another officer and destroyed two of the pills.

Ransom was dragged to the ground and punched several times.

"I think this shows how important police video cameras are and how important the entire video is, and not just snippets of it," said attorney Martha Eastman, who represented Ransom.

At the time, Ransom said he lost his hearing for a week after the incident and had to have the wound stapled together.

Charges against Ransom stemming from the traffic stop were later dropped.

In December 2019, LMPD cleared Evans of wrongdoing in the Ransom case, ruling he followed department policy during the arrest.

In February 2022, Evans was sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting to hitting a protestor in the head with a baton during the Taylor protests.

Body camera video played in court during Evans' sentencing hearing shows the victim, Marty Chester, on his knees with his hands in the air in May 2020 before Evans' struck him with his baton.

The incident happened on May 31, 2020, at the intersection of Brook Street and Broadway while police were following a group of people "causing chaos." Initially, Evans told a supervisor that the victim injured himself by falling off a chain-link fence and hitting his head on the concrete.

"I was embarrassed by what I did," Evans said during the hearing. "I was tired. I was broken. I wanted to be home with my family."

A lawsuit filed against Evans and police by Chester is still pending.

Evans, who was charged on June 9, 2021, submitted his resignation to LMPD less than a week after the department released a statement saying the chief's office "immediately referred" the allegations against Evans to federal authorities "when they came to light."

Evans had been with LMPD since 2014.

He has been released from prison and is on probation in Indiana.

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