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Man Paralyzed At Tulsa BLM Rally Sues City, Highway Patrol And Pickup Driver

Thomas “Ryan” Knight, 34, reportedly fell off a bridge when he went to participate in the 2020 event.

A man who fell from an overpass, resulting in him being paralyzed, during a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Tulsa, Oklahoma is suing the city, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and others in a federal lawsuit.

According to the Tulsa World, 34-year-old Thomas “Ryan” Knight is blaming the city, the OHP, the unidentified driver of a pickup pulling a horse trailer and others for creating the situation that led to his serious injuries.

The lawsuit states that on May 31, 2020, Knight was reportedly participating in the BLM march when he fell about 20 feet from an Interstate overpass near downtown Tulsa. The fall resulted in him breaking multiple spinal bones, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

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Knight’s lawsuit was filed Monday (February 14) in Tulsa federal court. It also alleges that actions taken by the Tulsa PD, the OHP and employees of both agencies led to his fall.

“But for the deliberate indifference of the TPD, OHP and their employees, plaintiff would have never been placed in the dangerous situation on I-244 and ultimately knocked off the overpass,” the suit claims.

Knight was among hundreds who participated in a BLM rally in Tulsa’s Greenwood District after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer just days earlier.

Knight, who is the father of a multiracial family, says he “was compelled to attend the rally, not only to stand up for what he believed in, but also to stand up for a better future for his children,” according to the lawsuit.

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