Cops ‘brutally beat’ Mississippi man with flashlights and tasers, lawsuit says
A photo of a man sitting on a bench with a swollen eye and streams of blood running down his face and chest was widely circulated on social media last year.
Now he’s suing the officers allegedly responsible for the beating.
According to a complaint filed in Mississippi federal court, Davidtron Logan was “brutally attacked” by officers with the Yalobusha County Sheriff’s Department and Water Valley Police Department during a checkpoint on July 18, 2019.
“During the course of this unconstitutional assault, not one single deputy or officer attempted to stop the attack, intercede to prevent further abuse or offered proper medical assistance to Mr. Logan after he was obviously suffering physical illness, injury, and a medical emergency,” the lawsuit states. “In fact, he was not taken to see a doctor until after he was severely beaten.”
Logan’s attorney, Carlos Moore, shared a picture of his client on his personal Facebook page in July, saying Logan had retained him as legal representation.
They filed the complaint claiming officers used excessive force and were otherwise negligent on Feb. 13.
A representative from the police department could not be reached, and the sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to an after-hours request for comment from McClatchy News.
But Yalobusha County Sheriff W.F. Humphreys told the Oxford Eagle in August that “what (he’s) saying is not the truth.”
“When he got to the checkpoint, Mr. Logan told the deputies he didn’t have a driver’s license,” Humphreys said, according to the newspaper. “So, they told him to go ahead and get out of the vehicle. The deputy who found the narcotics walked up and said ‘I found this,’ and at that point Logan took off running.”
According to the lawsuit, Logan was detained for driving with a suspended license. But his attorney said the officers started beating him with flashlights right after he exited his vehicle, fearing he would run.
Police officers and deputies then “pushed, choked, punched, and struck plaintiff repeatedly while he was unarmed and in handcuffs” before taking him to the police department “where he was brutalized more with the use of tasers,” the lawsuit states.
The officers eventually called the paramedic, according to the complaint.
Logan was brought to Baptist Memorial Hospital and then rushed to a second hospital in Tennessee, his attorney said in the lawsuit.
He sustained three fractures to his face and was diagnosed with double vision, the complaint states. He could also “require plastic surgery to repair the injuries to his face.”
Logan was eventually charged with driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest, simple assault on a law enforcement officer and possession of a controlled substance, according to the Oxford Eagle.
The complaint makes claims for excessive force, violation of due process and cruel and unusual punishment, negligent training, supervision and retention, failing to intervene, and assault and battery. Logan is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney’s fees.
Citing a “notice of claim” filed in August, the Oxford Eagle reported Moore is seeking $1 million for his client.
