Three Missouri state senators have been sued by an Olathe man who says they spread social media posts that falsely accused him of being involved in the Super Bowl parade shooting that left one woman dead and injured more than 20 others.
The suits filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, stem from misinformation that circulated on the former Twitter platform now known as X. It consisted of a picture of Loudermill, handcuffed and sitting on a curb, with a caption saying he was a shooter and an “illegal alien.”
In fact, Loudermill, who is Black, was born and raised in the United States and faced no charges. He was stopped by police who said he was moving too slow as he tried to exit an area they were taping off, but then released a few minutes later, according to the suits. The photographs were taken while he sat on the curb in view of onlookers.
The suits filed this week name the following Missouri senators:
- Rick Brattin of Cass County
- Denny Hoskins of Westphalia
- Nick Schroer of Ferguson
The suits claim that their inclusion of misinformation about Loudermill on X added to the stress, sleeplessness and anxiety that has followed him since his picture began circulating on the platform.
The senators’ social media posts were not made in good faith, were “willful, wanton, reckless and malicious” and showed indifference and disregard for Loudermill’s rights, according to the suits.
The suits ask for “fair and reasonable” compensatory and punitive damages,. and the suit notes that he sustained damages of more than $75,000.
Loudermill has already sued U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee using similar language, for reposting the picture and caption.
The Missouri senators named were members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus and were absent from the parade. Brattin posted on X that the right-wing Freedom Caucus would not attend because members wanted to work on a resolution that would raise the requirements for enacting constitutional amendments proposed by ballot initiatives.
Only Hoskins’ X feed showed a post about Loudermill as of today. He reposted without comment a post by Burchett that showed the picture, but retracted the accusation that Loudermill was an “illegal alien.” But it was only a partial retraction. Burchett had declined to say Loudermill was not a shooter.
In that post, Burchett said, “It has come to my attention that in one of my previous posts one of the shooters was identified as an illegal alien,” blamed unnamed news sources and said he had removed the post.
The Post reached out to Brattin, Hoskins and Schroer this morning by phone and email, but none have responded so far.
Arthur A. Benson II, Loudermill’s attorney, declined to offer further comment on the suits.
Keep reading: Olathe man sues congressman for falsely identifying him as Super Bowl rally shooter
