Kenyen Brown report outlines MPD downfalls in various violent encounters
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MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The highly anticipated report into Mobile Police policy and practices headed by former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown was released to the public Tuesday evening.
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The report looked into six violent incidents involving the Mobile Police Department, four of which were deadly.
Fatal Sheringham Drive Pre-Dawn Raid:
Brown started his report with the Nov. 13 pre-dawn SWAT raid on Sheringham Drive that left a 16-year-old boy dead. Officers were conducting a search warrant on DeAngelo Adjessom for marijuana charges. Adjessom was known to have firearms.
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Brown said the police department uses a weighted system of factors to determine whether or not SWAT, the police department’s most aggressive tool, should be used. On the scale, Brown said the search warrant was initially thought to be a medium-risk warrant, meaning SWAT would have been optional for the police department.
Brown said SWAT was not activated for officer safety but due to a shortage of narcotics officers to search a house of that size.
“So, the most aggressive tool in your toolbox, and you use it because you have a manpower shortage,” Brown said.
Brown said that when officers entered the home, two officers noticed a red laser on them. The 16-year-old boy holding the gun was subsequently shot, and the officers rendered aid.
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Brown said the officer’s use of force in this case is justified, but the situation could have been prevented had the police department conducted the raid during school hours among other factors.
Officer Body Slamming Teenage Girl at Accel Academy:
The second case Brown investigated involved a violent Oct. 17 encounter between a Mobile Police officer and a 16-year-old girl outside Accell Academy. The incident was caught on camera.
A video showed an MPD officer body slamming the teenage girl.
Brown said the officer’s body camera was not on when it should have been. Had it been recording, Brown said he would have seen if the teenager was being non-compliant.
“Based upon the size of the officer and the force at which he used, and using that particular technique in order to subdue her, we thought it was excessive,” Brown said.
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Before an administrator called the police, Brown said the internal video showed the girl and a school administrator getting into a verbal fight. The administrator, according to Brown, was caught on camera pulling the girl by her hair and spinning her around. Brown said that qualifies as criminal assault.
Death of Jawan Dallas:
The longest section in Brown’s report dealt with the July 2 death of Jawan Dallas, who died after being tased multiple times by police officers.
Officers were called to the Plantation Mobile Home Park on Carroll Plantation Road at 9:35 p.m. in regard to a possible burglary.
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Officers approached Dallas, who failed to show an identification. Brown said body camera video showed Dallas run from officers shortly after they asked him to get out of his vehicle.
The officer then tackled Dallas, fought him and tased him, according to Brown, to gain compliance.
Brown said Dallas reached for the officer’s taser. When officers got the taser back, Brown said they tased him again, but it proved ineffective.
Brown said the officer’s use of force proved to be appropriate due to Dallas’s attempt to flee and his resistance.
“What follows after that was very troubling in that Mr. Dallas repeatedly asked for medical assistance,” Brown said. However, Brown said officers did not render medical aid.
“He was told by officers five times, ‘Shut the f— up,'” Brown said.
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At one point Dallas attempted to turn over while in handcuffs. Brwon quoted of the MPD officers as saying, “Move again and I’m gonna hit you in your mother f—— stomach.'”
When a bystander approached the officers for an inquiry about the situation, one of the officers lashed out at the bystander.
“Unfortunately, this officer then gets into a verbal altercation with a bystander and tells him, ‘Well bring your a– over here and we’ll whoop you too,'” Brown said.
Brown said profanity is not taught in Mobile Police training as it is a catalyst for inflaming a suspect.
Brown said the officers called county EMS services, but EMS wasn’t much help when they arrived as Brown said they didn’t immediately render aid to Dallas.
“For several minutes EMT personnel stood outside of the vehicle without looking in on Mr. Dallas – who was calling out,” Brown’s report said. “One officer indicated ‘Check him out because he is beating his head and kicking in the vehicle.'”
When she finally got to Dallas, Brown quoted the paramedic as saying, “Don’t mess my s— up.”
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Dallas’s family filed a lawsuit against the City of Mobile for $36 million that family attorneys hope will take them to a federal courtroom.
Beezer DuBose Jr. Beat by MPD Officer while in Handcuffs:
Brown’s fourth case involved the Oct. 12 beating of Beezer DuBose Jr., whose beating was also caught on camera.
Brown did not name the officer involved in this case, but the officer identified himself as Paul Callegari Jr. when he filed a complaint against DuBose. That complaint is considered a court document and therefore a public record.
DuBose was pulled over for dark tint. When DuBose questioned Callegari’s reason for pulling him over, the officer took DuBose out of the car.
DuBose yelled to a bystander to call his girlfriend and tell her he was being arrested. Brown’s reports said the officer clapped back with a sarcastic “Call his momma too!”
The report said Callegari pinned DuBose to a nearby pole when DuBose attempted to change his positioning. That’s when Brown said Callegari and DuBose exchanged verbal assault to one another.
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Brown said Callegari grabbed DuBose by the hair and came close to his face.
“He then surrenders a tactically sound arm length distance from Mr. DuBose so that he can press his face close to Mr. DuBose’s face in order to shout, ‘What you gonna show me? What you f—— showing me?'”
DuBose and Callegari taunted each other several times before Brwon said the officer started hitting DuBose with a closed fist.
“You see in the body-worn cameras that then the officer just starts to hit Mr. DuBose with a closed fist to the face,” Brown said.
The fight continues to the ground, all while DuBose remains in handcuffs.
“He then says to fellow officers, ‘Well he was grabbing my privates. That’s why I was hitting him,'” Brown said.
“The investigation team did not find that claim to be credible,” Brown said. He backed this up with a few reasons:
When told he should get medical help for injuries to his groin, Callegari did not get medical assistance for three days. He only sought medical attention after the video of him beating DuBose was posted to social media.
In the 11-minute ride from the scene to metro jail, Callegari complained several times of his thumb hurting but made no mention of a groin injury.
“We just didn’t find his rationale for using a closed fist on a handcuffed suspect as credible,” Brown said. “We find instead that the use of force was excessive.”
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Brown said Callegari “unnecessarily escalated the situation by taunting” DuBose.
Christopher Jones Killed by MPD on Glenwood Street:
Brown also looked into the Oct. 2 officer-involved shooting of Christopher Jones, who neighbors called the police on for sleeping on the roof of a Glenwood Street house.
Brown said officers poked an awning with a stick to encourage Jones to come down from the roof.
Brown quotes an officer as saying, “Get off the roof! F—!'”
“Immediately using bad language,” Brown said.
Brown said the officer pulled out a taser to get Jones off of the roof. Jones walked around the roof to avoid being tased.
When he got down from the roof, Brown said Jones reached into a bag and pulled out a gun.
That’s when, according to Brown, the officer shot Jones multiple times, killing him.
While Brown said the officer’s use of force was appropriate based on the perceived threat, the incident could have been prevented.
“As we look back to the greater scope of things, the Mobile Police Department had been called out to that same address a week prior for the same reason related to the same person,” Brown said.
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Brown said MPD dispatch failed to inform officers of that before their arrival.
“Now did the officers have enough community engagement, even though this was their beat, to be aware that Mr. Jones had mental health issues,” Brown said.
The way the officers handled the situation, according to Brown, was the exact opposite of MPD training when dealing with a mental health case.
Kordell Jones:
Brown also investigated a search warrant the police department conducted on a house on Charles Street that killed Kordell Jones.
The police department was conducting a search warrant about robbery allegations.
“They did a dynamic entry into this home, which means they quickly knock on the door, then they blow the door open,” Brown said.
Brown said 15 officers were involved in the search warrant and SWAT was activated.
Based on the same weighted system of factors MPD uses to determine SWAT activation, the search warrant was ranked to be a higher-risk warrant.
“Within 22 seconds of breaching the front door, the officer that is assigned to the back hears a back window open up,” Brown said. “The first thing he sees is the barrel of a gun come out, then he sees the hand come out, then the torso.”
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Brown estimated the officer was five feet away from Jones.
“He does shoot the individual after not really giving a warning,” Brown said. “He does say ‘Hey!” but it’s not clear that Mr. Jones heard the hey.”
Brown said the officer shot Jones four times with his handgun.
Based on the threat to officers, Jones said the officer’s use of force was acceptable.
Brown said the five family members on the property were detained “appropriately and constitutionally by MPD initially.”
“MPD, in our view, improperly and unconstitutionally transported those family members,” Brown said.
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The family members were taken to MPD headquarters, kept in handcuffs and were separated from each other.
“They actually held them longer in time than the duration of the search, which is also unconstitutional,” Brown said. “If you had probable cause that the individuals were committing a crime, then it would be constitutional.”
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