Attorney Mike Laux (center) is flanked by attorney Daniel Marks (left) and plaintiff Don Cook (right) as he announces a federal lawsuit against Arkansas State Police officers related to serious injuries Cook sustained on June 1, 2020, during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations at the Arkansas Capitol. Brian Chilson

Prominent civil rights attorney Mike Laux filed a lawsuit in federal court today on behalf of Don Cook, the man who suffered significant injuries after Arkansas State Police personnel hit him in the face with a sack of lead pellets at the June 1, 2020, Black Lives Matter protest at the Arkansas Capitol.

State Police arrested Cook at his home more than a year later, and not until after Cook asked the state of Arkansas to reimburse him for the multiple reconstructive surgeries he needed, including the installation of a titanium jaw and a new set of teeth.

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X-rays of Don Cook’s jaw taken on Sept. 29, 2020, show the damage he sustained from a beanbag round during a June 1 protest over the death of George Floyd.

An attorney and father of three, Cook was at the Capitol that night as part of the demonstrations that sprouted up across the country in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder at a police officer’s hands. A white man who has an autistic son, Cook said he wanted to participate in the protest in part because of worries over the history of misunderstandings and negative interactions between law enforcement and people with autism.

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“I went up to the Capitol that day because I thought something was happening and I needed to be there as a citizen,” Cook said while surrounded by his family at a press conference to announce the lawsuit. Cook said he was in a crowd of peaceful and unorganized protesters who were trying to head home when law enforcement on the scene started lobbing tear gas canisters. “It sounded like what I used to watch as a kid on television from Vietnam. And I was just trying to leave and I didn’t expect to spend the next three days in the hospital with a shattered jaw and some permanent injuries and unexpected surgeries, weeks and months of liquid diets. And I certainly didn’t expect Arkansas state troopers to show up at my front door more than a year later, honing in on charges they couldn’t support in court and marching me out in the street in front of my neighbors. (A note: I live across the street from Cook, and watching my friendly, extremely dad-like neighbor get arrested and perp walked down the street in his PJs was my first indication that something wild was happening here that deserved some looking into.)

Photos of Cook being arrested more than a year after the protest related to his misdemeanor charge.

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Attorney Laux suggested those troopers would never have come knocking if Cook hadn’t asked the state to help cover his medical bills. “They knew what they did. And they were hoping that sleeping dogs would continue to sleep,” Laux said.

He suggested Ryan Wingo, the already embattled trooper who shot Cook with the beanbag projectile, went on the offense against Cook to cover his tracks.

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“This isn’t the first time Wingo has engaged in pure fiction,” Laux said, pointing to multiple complaints and investigations of his conduct. Wingo has made headlines for shooting and killing a man he pursued for a traffic stop and for purposely rear-ending a Garland County couple.

Laux pointed to discrepancies in police accounts and the affadavit for Cook’s arrest, notably that Cook is described by police as wearing a red shirt and white shorts on the night of the incident when video from that night clearly shows Cook in a peach-colored shirt and khaki shorts. Laux also pushed back on police descriptions of Cook as a hulk-like, unstoppable brute who was bearing down on officers, giving them no choice but to fire.

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Charges against Cook were eventually dropped.

Wingo, along with Arkansas State Police officers trooper Jeff Sheeler, Lt. John Joe and Col. William Bryant, are named as defendants in the suit. Five “John Doe” officers are also named. These are officers whose identities are unknown to Cook and his attorney, but who they say should have intervened to prevent what they say was inappropriate and unconstitutional use of force by Wingo. The suit alleges that Joe should not have authorized use of lead-filled bean bag projectiles that night

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Cook has dropped his request with the Arkansas Claims Commission asking to be reimbursed for medical expenses, but the new lawsuit seeks to recoup those costs, and to cover ongoing therapy costs and attorney fees.

Laux said he expects the state to invoke qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that essentially places governments and their agents above the law, in trying to get this case dismissed. But Laux said he believes the violations to be egregious and clear cut enough that courts will not let defendants off the hook.

“It’s a terrible case with some really sharp teeth for them,” Laux said.

Contacted for comment, Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said he couldn’t take questions. “State Police has a longstanding practice of not responding to questions regarding pending or ongoing litigation,” he said.

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