ART SUITS FILED
Attendees from 2018 Art All Night shooting sue city
TRENTON » The infamous 2018 Art All Night gunplay has spawned several lawsuits against the capital city.
Three plaintiffs who attended the violent event are suing Trenton and Artworks, claiming they have suffered permanent and serious injuries in the ruckus.
The gunplay occurred inside the Roebling Wire Works warehouse during the early morning hours of June 17, 2018, injuring at least 22 people, 17 of whom suffered gunshot wounds. Witnesses and prosecutors said the shootout happened as police were shutting down the festival due to numerous fights that occurred throughout that night.
Ewing man Dioh Williams attended the 2018 arts festival and heard numerous gunshots, according to his complaint filed in Mercer County Superior Court last month.
Williams ran out of the venue upon hearing the gunplay and tripped and fell, suffering “permanent and serious injuries to his cervical spine, lumbar spine, right shoulder and left knee,” according to his lawsuit. “Plaintiff’s injuries include but are not limited to the mental and physical suffering, emotional distress, and great pain associated therewith which will result in claims based in tort with attendant claims for economic losses and for pain and suffering as permitted by law.”
Shakoya Howard, a Pennsylvania resident from Penndel in Bucks County, attended Art All Night 2018 and ran out of the building when shots rang out, according to her lawsuit filed on May 12.
During the chaos, Howard was suddenly struck by an unknown automobile in a hit-and-run crash on Dye Street, suffering permanent and serious injuries to her cervical spine, lumbar spine, left shoulder and bilateral knees in addition to emotional distress and mental suffering, according to her complaint.
Corey Brown is the third person to file suit over the Art All Night mass shooting.
He’s represented by attorney Michael Mumola of the Hamilton-based firm Kalavaruzos Mumola Hartman
and Lento. Mumola did not respond to a message seeking comment on the pleadings.
Brown, of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Trenton, says he was shot in the buttocks during the firefight.
He jumped inside a storage can protect himself from being further wounded, the complaint says.
Brown was hospitalized at Capital Health Regional Medical Center but did not undergo surgery for the through-and-through gunshot wound, which exited his left thigh, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, seeking damages and attorney fees awarded at a jury trial, al
were violated and he suffered emotional distress as a result of the “state-created danger.” He says the municipalities had a duty to ensure the event was safe.
Attorney Martin J. Hillman filed the AAN lawsuits on behalf of Williams and Howard. He did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
Williams and Howard both demand a trial by jury and seek compensatory damages, punitive damages and any other relief deemed reasonable and just.
The infamous shooting sparked a major law-enforcement investigation.
Amir Armstrong, 25, is
serving a five-year prison sentence at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, while Davone White, 28, is serving a six-year prison sentence at Northern State Prison for their roles in the Art All Night madness.
Armstrong and White were armed and dangerous when gunfire erupted at the popular Art All Night festival, and both of them suffered gunshot wounds in the encounter.
White pleaded guilty to second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and Armstrong pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun without a permit to carry.
Police shot and killed 32-year-old Tahaij Wells in the apparent gunfight that transpired when cops were attempting to shut down the rowdy event. Wells would
have likely been charged with weapons offenses if he had survived.
Armstrong and White both recovered from their gunshot injuries to face justice, confessing they packed heat but denying they fired any shots.
White says a cop, not a gun-toting civilian, shot him from behind.
Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, said her agency’s report about the police’s actions during the firefight is being reviewed by the state Attorney General’s Office before it’s made public. She couldn’t say when the report would be released.
Authorities previously confirmed that suspected gunman Tahaij Wells was shot and killed by police during the June 2018 Art All Night chaos, but they have not confirmed or denied
whether police are responsible for anyone else’s gunshot wounds.
Trenton law director John Morelli said the city has not settled any of the current or anticipated lawsuits from the AAN shooting.
The city received a deluge of tort claim notices following the melee — more than 20. Anticipating potentially heavy settlements and attorney fees, the city took Artworks to court to ensure it was indemnified by the nonprofit’s $2 million aggregated coverage. Artworks initially “failed and/ or refused to respond to the city’s demand for coverage,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by J. Brooks DiDonato of parker McCay in February 2019. The lawsuit sought declaratory judgment identifying the parities owing indemnity.
The suit also named security
contractor MR Party Management, Lloyd’s of Londo, and brokers Zodiac Insurance Co. and Bretton Woods International.
Attorney Patrick Whalen has since filed another lawsuit on behalf of Artworks against Lloyd’s of London saying it has an “obligation under the policy to defend and indemnify plaintiff with respect to any and all actions filed against plaintiff” over the shooting.
Court records show DiDonato submitted a consent order in May of this year. The terms of the consent order weren’t immediately clear.
More than 10,000 people attended the 2019 Art All Night festival, including Gov. Phil Murphy. The COVID-19 public health emergency currently prevents organizers from hosting a 2020 Art All Night bash.
Plaintiff Dioh Williams
has well-known political ambitions and ran for office months after the Roebling Wire Works building became a major crime scene.
The Ewing man ran unsuccessfully for New Jersey General Assembly alongside Edward “NJ Weedman” Forchion under the Legalize Marijuana Party last year.
Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli of Hopewell Township and Democratic Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson of Trenton soared to re-election last fall, crushing their Republican and third-party challengers by a wide margin in the 15th Legislative District.
Less than 3 percent of LD15 voters supported Dioh Williams in the 2019 general election, according to official ballot counts showing he received 1,397 votes in Mercer County and 196 votes in Hunterdon County.