The City of Atlanta has agreed to pay a $999,000 settlement to Noel Hall, a North Carolina man who was shot by an off-duty Atlanta police officer while visiting the city. Cochran Firm Atlanta attorneys Shean Williams and Sam Starks hope that the settlement will lead to the city to giving serious consideration to resolving other similar police shooting lawsuits including that of Caine Rogers. Rogers was shot and killed by an Atlanta police officer as he drove past the officer in 2016.
“He wouldn’t look at my pass to get back into the pits. So I made a sharp right and drove around him. He pulled a gun and fired at me and shot me.”
-Noel Hall (2017)
In 2017 Noel was visiting Atlanta with his wife, two sons, a son’s girlfriend, and a 2-year-old grandson to attend the Atlanta Supercross at the Georgia Dome. As they were leaving an off-duty Atlanta police officer, Mathieu Cadeau, was directing traffic and claimed that Hall drove in a different direction to what Cadeau directed. Cadeau instructed Hall that he could not make a left turn due to traffic flow. Hall explained that his son had participated in the motocross event and that they needed to travel down Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard to retrieve his motorcycle before heading back to North Carolina. Cadeau claims that Hall drove the vehicle towards him, a claim disputed by the family who added that they did not know he was a police officer. Cadeau shot into the vehicle hitting Hall, missing his heart by 2 inches, and nearly hit Hall’s wife after a bullet exited his body.
"The officer shot at me through the driver's window, the bullet entering and exiting me twice, then through and out the passenger window, just missing my wife’s head, who was seated in the passenger seat by only inches. Also in the van were 2 of our sons, one son's girlfriend and our 2 year old grandson, so it could have very easily went through the passenger area of the van, hitting any of them. Never at any point would I have done anything to put them in harm's way, just as I would never had intentionally made a move to cause harm or possibly take another’s life."
-Noel Hall (2017)
Cadeau claimed that he feared for his life and the safety of other personnel and pedestrians, but investigators found that he was standing near the driver side window when he fired into the vehicle, which would put him out of harm’s way with regard to being run over by the vehicle.
Cadeau was fired from the force in May of 2018 and indicted by a Fulton County grand jury for aggravated assault, violation of his oath, and reckless conduct in October of 2018. In 2020 Cadeau plead guilty and was sentenced to 30 years of probation. Cadeau had been recommended for firing by a supervisor earlier after he gave false statements regarding his actions during a bar fight.
“This has been very traumatic for this family, not only physically but emotionally. Instead of a nice weekend in Atlanta, this almost ended in a tragic loss of life.”
-Cochran Firm Attorney Shean Williams
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