SC magistrate wants to dismiss Rock Hill man’s lawsuit over viral video arrest
A South Carolina federal magistrate judge has recommended dismissing a lawsuit filed by a Rock Hill man against police in a controversial 2021 arrest caught on viral video that sparked days of racial protests over police tactics in the city.
However, Ricky Roderick Price’s lawyer wants a jury to be allowed to decide whether police had the right to pull Price over before the fight between him and officers caught on video led to marches in the streets.
Price, who is Black, was arrested on drug and gun charges on June 23, 2021, outside a Rock Hill convenience store after a traffic stop. He fought with officers after one of the police officers, Jonathan Moreno, took his uninvolved brother, Travis Price, to the ground. Video sparked outrage after it was posted by an onlooker on Facebook. Three days of protests that garnered national attention over police use of force followed the arrests.
Prosecutors later dismissed drug and traffic charges against Price — but only after he spent months in jail.
In September 2024, Price filed his lawsuit against the city of Rock Hill and the officers involved, seeking damages for physical and emotional harm after the fight with police where a K-9 dog was used.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Shiva Hodges wrote in a court ruling last month that police officer Jonathan Moreno had the right to stop Ricky Price’s car for alleged traffic infractions after following him on Dave Lyle Boulevard. Moreno and other officers said Price committed traffic violations, including an improper lane change. Moreno told Price why he was stopped by police when Price finally pulled over, Hodges stated in her ruling.
“Moreno had reasonable suspicion to pull Plaintiff over,” Hodges wrote in her decision. “At the time Moreno stopped Plaintiff, he had, at the least, witnessed him violate a traffic law and informed him as much immediately upon pulling him over. The evidence submitted is consistent with Plaintiff having violated a traffic law, and Plaintiff does not offer evidence that he did not violate a traffic law or that Moreno did not perceive the same.”
Price’s lawyer, Spartanburg County Council member Monier Abusaft, agreed to dismiss the city and the other officers involved as defendants in the civil lawsuit, but wants the case against Moreno to go to trial, court documents show. He alleged in court documents that police used knowledge of Ricky Price’s past criminal record to target him for the traffic stop — a violation of Ricky Price’s rights,.
Moreno has also given different reasons for the traffic stop, Abusaft wrote in court filings.
“Moreno’s multiple, inconsistent explanations create a genuine issue of material fact as to whether he had a constitutionally valid basis for stopping Plaintiff,” Abusaft wrote in a filing on Tuesday. “A reasonable fact finder could conclude that the only reason for the stop was Moreno’s reliance on Plaintiff’s criminal history and prior interactions — a constitutionally impermissible justification.”
Abusaft said Wednesday the entire incident started with police violating Ricky Price’s rights because they said he was a criminal.
“The founders of our country didn’t want the government to indiscriminately stop people,” Abusaft told The Herald Wednesday.
Charges were dropped, officer acquitted, too
Moreno was with two federal agents that pulled over Ricky Price’s car. Drugs and a gun were found.
Police body camera video released by the city and prosecutors showed Ricky Price fighting with different officers after he became upset about how his brother had been slammed to the ground by Moreno after Travis Price tried to get Ricky Price’s jewelry before Ricky Price was taken to jail.
Police charged Travis Price with hindering police despite the onlooker and police videos showing he did not push officers.
Hours after the onlooker video went viral on the day of the fight, hundreds of people marched around downtown Rock Hill near the police department. The protests went on for three nights, including confrontations where police wore riot gear and carried plastic shields.
York County’s top prosecutor, Kevin Brackett, dropped the criminal charge against Travis Price about a week later and had South Carolina state police charge Moreno with assault and battery concerning Travis Price. Moreno was fired by the Rock Hill Police Department. He was later acquitted in a criminal trial after a York County jury found him not guilty of assault and battery.
Travis Price sued the city in a separate legal action and received a $500,000 settlement.
What happens now?
After Ricky Price filed his lawsuit, lawyers for the city and police quickly countered in court documents that Ricky Price attacked them first and asked that the lawsuit be tossed. Court filings show Abusaft previously agreed to drop the city as a defendant and does not oppose dropping the other officers aside from Moreno as defendants.
The recommendation by Hodges, the magistrate, to dismiss the lawsuit has to be approved by a higher federal U.S. District judge. Lawyers for police have two weeks to reply to Abusaft’s objections to the case being dismissed.
It remains unclear when U.S. District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis will review the case and decide if the suit gets dismissed.
A separate South Carolina lawsuit filed by Ricky Price in York County civil court against the city of Rock Hill remains pending, according to Abusaft and court records.
