A federal jury has awarded Little Rock attorney Don Lloyd Cook about $900,000 after finding for him on his excessive-force claim against Arkansas State Police Trooper 1st Class Ryan Wingo. The verdict came at the end of a retrial early Saturday, Nov. 7, more than five years after Cook was struck during a protest at the Arkansas Capitol, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The jury’s decision resolved the claim left undecided at the first trial in October 2025, when jurors could not reach agreement on excessive force. In that earlier trial, jurors found for the defendants on Cook’s false-arrest and retaliation claims. The new verdict concerns the excessive-force claim against Wingo; it does not reverse those earlier findings, the newspaper reported.
What the lawsuit alleged
Cook’s lawsuit said he was walking away as police ordered the crowd to disperse on June 1, 2020, when Wingo fired a lead-filled beanbag round that struck him in the face. The complaint said the impact knocked Cook unconscious and caused serious injuries requiring emergency care and surgery. Those details describe Cook’s allegations; the verdict establishes the jury’s finding on excessive force, not every account of the incident.
Cook filed the federal suit in 2022, naming Wingo and other state police officials. The other named officials were later dismissed, and the remaining defendants were represented by the state attorney general’s office, according to The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The verdict followed a retrial before Chief U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker.
Other protest-injury cases are distinct
The Cook verdict sits alongside other legal cases arising from injuries during 2020 protests, but their facts and outcomes differ. In Minneapolis, journalist Linda Tirado was blinded in one eye by a police projectile while covering protests in May 2020; the city council approved a $600,000 settlement in 2022, the Minnesota Reformer reported. That was a settlement, not a jury verdict against an individual officer.
In a separate Denver case, a 2022 jury found constitutional violations in a suit brought by 12 plaintiffs over demonstrations that began in May 2020, and an appeals court later upheld the verdict, according to Colorado Politics. That case concerned claims against Denver and is not evidence about the Arkansas incident or the conduct of Arkansas State Police. These examples illustrate different paths through protest-related litigation; they do not establish a trend or determine the facts of Cook’s case.
