Victim of Racist Attack Names FedEx in $5 Million Lawsuit [Update]
Last year, D’Monterrio Gibson was racially targeted by a white father and son in the neighborhood as he made his FedEx deliveries. Gibson filed a $5 million federal lawsuit naming the two men as defendants, per WREG. However, the city, police department AND FedEx must answer to the suit’s accusations.
You might be wondering, Damn, what did FedEx do? According to the lawsuit, after nearly being lynched by these white men the day before, Gibson was still sent to work the same route the next day. He couldn’t even complete his shift without having a panic attack. As a result, the company approved his medical leave and offered to cover eight of his therapy sessions during his time off.
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Gibson’s suit includes accusations of intentional racial discrimination, civil assault and battery and civil obstruction of justice.
The suit also alleges that the city of Brookhaven and Police Chief Kenneth Collins dragged their feet in investigating the incident. The report says the suspects surrendered to the police in February of 2022 but weren’t indicted until November. A previous report from Mother Jones says that, ahead of their grand jury proceedings, the two men were released from jail on bond and given special protection (as if they needed to be protected). Gibson alleges the delay in presenting critical evidence was intentional to allow the men to walk free.
Their trial date has yet to be set. According to Mother Jones, the police may have gone easy on the attackers because they allegedly had family ties to the department. Plus, they had a long history of making violent threats against the people on their block.
Gregory and Brandon Case profiled Gibson while he was working. Gregory cornered the delivery truck with his vehicle and Brandon shot at the side of it while Gibson tried to drive away, reports say. The Cases were indicted by a grand jury for attempted murder. However, Gibson’s attorney, Carlos Moore, had speculated that the cops didn’t take the investigation seriously, per Mother Jones. Consider the fact that an officer asked Gibson if he did anything to make himself seem “suspicious” - as if minding his own Black business was enough to warrant the racist attack.
According to a lawsuit filed by Gibson, the slacking off from the police department may also be the result of a serious conflict of interest.
More from Mother Jones:
The Cases, according to a lawsuit, have important connections in Brookhaven: They are allegedly related to former assistant police chief Chris Case, who retired several months after the shooting. The police department denied any relation between the men and said the former assistant chief was never involved with the investigation. But Gibson’s attorney, Carlos Moore, says other Brookhaven residents still believe there’s a family connection and remain concerned about bias. The police, Moore told reporters, are “too close to the kitchen.”
“Most of the Cases are related,” Nicole Beard Steele, a health care worker who previously lived near Gregory and Brandon Case, told me. “I believe if it were anyone else, the cops would be knocking down doors, but instead they were allowed time to turn themselves in. They get special treatment because of who they are.”
Let’s say the Cases actually don’t have relatives in the department. More information on the two suggests they still received special treatment. In a leaked recording of Brookhaven Police Chief Kenneth Collins, he suggests he knew the Cases had a history of gun violence and admitted they regularly attacked other people on the same road, as if they “own the whole street.”
As of now, the two men who have blatant violent tendencies walk free as if they didn’t almost threaten an innocent Black man.
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