A federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from the fatal 2017 police shooting of 19-year-old Larry Ruiz-Barreto is poised to proceed to trial after a federal magistrate judge recommended that excessive force claims against a former Fall River police officer move forward. The decision marks a significant step in a legal battle that has remained unresolved for nearly nine years.
The fatal encounter took place late on the night of Nov. 12, 2017, near the Fall River Industrial Park following reports of street racing. Despite years of administrative scrutiny and legal maneuvering, the core factual circumstances surrounding Ruiz-Barreto's death continue to be fiercely contested by the involved parties in federal court.
In a comprehensive report dated Aug. 21, 2026, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jennifer Boal advised U.S. District Judge George O'Toole to allow the Ruiz-Barreto family’s excessive force claims against former Fall River Police Department officer Nicholas Hoar to be heard by a jury. Boal emphasized that the plaintiffs had presented sufficient evidence to allow a reasonable jury to determine that the teenager did not present an imminent threat to the officer when the fatal shots were fired.
Within the federal judicial framework, magistrate judges frequently oversee preliminary civil proceedings and evaluate dispositive motions. They subsequently draft formal reports and recommendations to guide presiding district judges on which specific claims possess enough legal and factual merit to warrant resolution via a full jury trial.
The pending litigation originated in November 2020, when Ruiz-Barreto’s family initiated a federal civil lawsuit naming Hoar, several fellow police officers, and the City of Fall River as defendants. While the legal action initially sought $34 million in compensatory and punitive damages, the family's requested financial relief has since been revised down to approximately $10 million.
In evaluating the municipal liability aspect of the litigation, Judge Boal recommended granting summary judgment in favor of the City of Fall River across all filed claims. The magistrate determined that the plaintiffs failed to establish evidence demonstrating that the fatal shooting occurred as a direct outcome of unconstitutional municipal policies, customs, or official city practices.
Boal further recommended the pre-trial dismissal of several ancillary allegations against the individual officers, including claims alleging conspiracy, generalized civil rights violations, and false arrest. However, the magistrate advised that Judge O'Toole should preserve excessive force claims against all named officers, alongside separate claims alleging that certain officers failed to intervene during a post-shooting hospital altercation involving Ruiz-Barreto’s grieving family members.
The central pillar of the ongoing lawsuit involves two irreconcilable narratives detailing what transpired during the late-night encounter at the intersection of Airport Road and Riggenbach Road. Both sides acknowledge that Hoar initially arrived at the scene after dispatchers received reports describing fire, smoke, and loud noises, which prompted numerous drag racers to disperse rapidly upon law enforcement's arrival.
According to Hoar’s account in court records, Ruiz-Barreto failed to flee immediately and instead drove his vehicle directly toward the officer after being halted. Hoar alleged that the teenager struck him, knocking his legs out from under him despite verbal commands to stop, forcing Hoar onto the vehicle's hood where he fired six rounds through the windshield in self-defense.
Conversely, eyewitness testimony from the vehicle’s passengers—including Ruiz-Barreto’s father—tells a radically different story of the encounter. The passengers stated that Hoar approached their vehicle with his weapon already drawn, uttered a statement that the young driver did not comprehend, and discharged his firearm only after Ruiz-Barreto raised his hands, maintaining that the automobile remained in "park" throughout the entire confrontation.
Because these competing testimonies present starkly divergent versions of the incident, Judge Boal concluded that resolving the factual disputes requires assessment by a jury. Under federal civil standards, if jurors were to credit the family's account that Ruiz-Barreto was compliant and stationary, Hoar's decision to use lethal force would constitute an unconstitutional violation of the teenager's rights.
The magistrate also rejected Hoar’s bid for qualified immunity regarding the excessive force claims. In summary judgment evaluations, courts are legally obligated to evaluate all disputed facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving plaintiffs, which precluded granting the former officer early immunity protections in the presence of credible allegations of constitutional overreach.
The magistrate's recommendations stand in contrast to early state-level reviews of the incident. In March 2018, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office concluded an official investigation into the Industrial Park shooting, formally determining that Hoar had acted with legal justification when he discharged his weapon.
Hoar's tenure in law enforcement subsequently ended following unrelated federal criminal charges. He resigned from the Fall River Police Department after being convicted by a federal jury in 2024 for deprivation of rights under color of law and filing false police reports in a separate police brutality matter, an outcome that resulted in a 33-month federal prison sentence.
With the magistrate's recommendations now officially submitted, the final determination regarding the scope of the upcoming federal trial rests with Judge O'Toole. The ongoing legal proceedings also unfold under heightened local attention, as Nicholas Hoar is the brother of Fall River's current interim Chief of Police, J.T. Hoar.
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