NEW ORLEANS — A split panel of a federal appeals court said Thursday that a former Baton Rouge police officer injured during a protest after Alton Sterling's death in 2016 deserves his day in court.

John Ford was hit by a "rock-like" object thrown by a person protesting Sterling's killing by a police officer outside the Triple S store on North Foster Drive. Ford, who filed his initial lawsuit as John Doe, claims Black Lives Matter organizer DeRay Mckesson should be held accountable, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed.

"Eight years of pretrial litigation are enough," Judge Edith H. Jones wrote. "It is time for Officer Ford to have a jury assess his claim that DeRay Mckesson's negligence in leading a violent protest caused him to suffer injuries at the hands of rioters. ... The record contains ample evidence that Mckesson led the protest in a way that violated his duty of care."

But Judge Carolyn Dineen King said her colleagues were violating Mckesson's constitutional rights.

"Someone should be held accountable," she wrote, "(b)ut Officer Ford has not come close to demonstrating that Mckesson is that someone."

The question turns on Mckesson's role at the Baton Rouge protest and whether he knew or should have known that violence might have erupted.

"Today," King said, Ford "must do more than simply allege; he must produce evidence."

Her reading of the record, she said, showed that Mckesson was "part of" a group that organized the protest and that the Black Lives Matter has no formal, centralized group of organizers. Previous courts have discussed the inability to sue a "hashtag."

The two judges in the majority Thursday said Mckesson was obligated to exercise "reasonable care" while organizing a  protest that included blocking a highway. Previously, the 5th Circuit had said a jury could conclude that it was "reasonably foreseeable that the protest would lead to a violent confrontation with police."

Those siding with Mckesson say putting him on trial might discourage people from protesting.