One of the protestors who was arrested on the Roebling Bridge last summer has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court alleging the Covington Police Department used excessive force.
Brandon Hill and his attorney, Marvin Knorr, filed his lawsuit on Wednesday.
In addition to excessive force, Hill also alleges that police “deprived him of his procedural and substantive due process rights protected by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” according to the complaint.
The police and protestors clashed as the protestors attempted to cross the bridge from the Ohio side. Nick Swartsell, a reporter with WVXU, was on the scene and recorded several videos that later became widely circulated among news media and on social media. One video shows Covington Police Officer Zachary Stayton, who is named in the new suit, repeatedly punching Hill in the head. Photos of the injuries Hill sustained are included in his complaint.
Fifteen people were arrested on the bridge last year, including two CityBeat journalists at the time — Madeline Fening and Lucas Griffith. The arrests took place after a protest in Cincinnati branched off from a vigil for former Cincinnati Children’s chaplain Ayman Soliman, whom United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained following the revocation of his asylum status. At the time, Soliman was held at the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio. He was later released.
Hill’s new lawsuit seeks what’s called a Monell claim against the city and department, which argues that allegedly unconstitutional behavior on the part of a single officer is reflective of broader practices within the department as a whole, thereby making the entire agency responsible. Monell claims have been leveled against Covington PD in the past.
An internal affairs investigation released in November found Stayton had violated department protocols during the bridge arrests but not for punching Hill. In fact, the investigation found his actions against Hill were “to be within policy and current departmental practice,” according to Sergeant Jeff Cook, who’s responsible for training at the department.
Instead, it was for his actions against another protestor and actions during the clearing of the bridge after the protest had been broken up, for which he was docked for “unbecoming conduct” after cursing and shoving a protestor for seemingly no reason. Stayton was placed on a 30-day suspension, as a result.
Notably, Stayton told the IA detectives during the investigation that “he had never been trained to handle a situation like this. He stated that he never thought he would be fighting someone on the bridge. He said that he wasn’t prepared for the situation and wished that he had been trained better.”
At multiple times throughout Stayton’s interviewing process, the detectives asked him where he learned to punch and strike people to gain compliance, and he said either during the police academy or through the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training, the state agency responsible for training recruits.
The city issued a statement following the filing the suit:
The City of Covington is aware of the federal lawsuit recently filed by one of the individuals facing criminal charges related to the July 2025 incident on the Roebling Suspension Bridge.
As a matter of policy, the City does not typically comment on active litigation, the statement reads. However, it is important to note that the individual who filed the lawsuit is currently being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office after a Kenton County Judge reviewed the evidence presented in the case and determined there was probable cause for the felony charges, allowing the matter to move forward through the criminal justice system.
The events that occurred on the Roebling Bridge in July 2025 posed serious public safety concerns. The City remains committed to ensuring Covington is a safe place for all residents and visitors.
Because both the criminal case and the civil litigation remain pending, the City has no further comment at this time.
Hill is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in his lawsuit. He is demanding a trial by jury. Read his full complaint below.
Hill was one of four protestors who had his felony rioting charge upheld after his arrest. His felony case in county court has not had any hearings since last July, when the court upheld the probable cause. Taylor Marshall, another protestor, has likewise not had a subsequent hearing since last July.
The remaining two protestors whose probable cause was upheld, Ameer Ayman Alkayali and Logan Imber, both later had their rioting charges amended to lower misdemeanor charges, according to court records. Imber was arraigned for her misdemeanor on Wednesday, the same day Hill filed his federal suit. Alkayali’s arraignment is scheduled for August. Everyone else who was arrested either took plea deals or has already gone to trial.
