Deputy makes first statement since courthouse attack a year ago

<p>Cynthia Hall, the deputy overpowered by the alleged gunman in last year's Atlanta courthouse shooting spree, said in her first public statement since the brutal attack that she misses work and she's without health insurance.</p><p>"I know I have to do something else. I want to be working. I like being hard at work," Hall said in a slow and halting manner during a five-minute video that was taped a week ago.</p><p>Attorney Brandon Hornsby showed the video Thursday as part of his announcement that Hall had filed a legal complaint with Fulton County alleging that it violated security policies at the courthouse and failed to adequately protect Hall and others harmed in the March 11, 2005, shootings.</p><p>If the county doesn't adequately respond to Hall's complaint, she will be forced to file a lawsuit seeking $3 million in damages, Hornsby said. Under state law, the county has 30 days to address the complaint.</p><p>Willie Lovett, deputy county attorney, said the county will investigate the complaint. He said he was not familiar with "any facts with Hall being dropped from (health insurance) coverage."</p><p>"After we do a thorough investigation, we will be able to comment on the merits of the claim," Lovett said. "We recognize that it was a tragedy and we sympathize with all the victims and to the extent that we receive claims we will analyze them and give them serious consideration."</p><p>The complaint alleges that the Fulton County Sheriff's Department command "knew of the extreme security risks asscociated with rape suspect Brian Nichols and ignored them. This systematic failure of accountability jeopardized the lives of all those in the courthouse that day, including the Sheriff's subordinate deputies like Deputy Cynthia Hall."</p><p>The complaint said Hall's superiors did not view metal shanks found in Nichols' shoes prior to the attacks as dangerous and that they took no measures to tell deputies or take additional security measures.</p><p>In addition, the complaint said neither of two men assigned to man surveillance cameras were at their posts when Hall was attacked _ one of the officers had been sent to retrieve a supervisor's breakfast.</p><p>Hall suffered a brain injury in the attack. Nearly a year later, she still has speech and cognitive-processing problems, cannot drive and cannot work, Hornsby said.</p><p>Hornsby said her income has been reduced by half, leaving the single mother and her two children with an income just above the poverty line. In addition, he said the county recently canceled Hall's health insurance.</p><p>She only receives $450 a week from the state workers' compensation system.</p><p>"That system is so wholly inadequate when you have a single mother with a brain injury," Hornsby said. He said Hall's salary with the sheriff's office was about $40,000 a year.</p><p>Hornsby said Hall continues to receive outpatient therapy from the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a catastrophic care hospital specializing in brain and spinal cord injuries.</p><p>Hall was beaten while escorting Brian Nichols to a courtroom where he was on trial for rape. Nichols is accused of taking Hall's gun and killing a judge and court reporter who were presiding over his trial, as well as Deputy Hoyt Teasley and a federal agent.</p><p>Victims' families have filed lawsuits against the county over the shootings. The most recent was filed Wednesday by Teasley's widow, seeking an unspecified damages for her husband's death.</p><p>In the videotaped statement, Hall said the only thing she remembered from the attack was leading Nichols up an elevator to the holding area where he was to change clothes for his trial. The next thing she remembered was undergoing surgery at least five days later at the Shepherd Center, completely unaware of the attack.</p><p>In a message to her former colleagues, Hall said: "Make sure you watch over one another while you're working together. Keep each other safe before you go home for the evening."</p>