Off-duty cop ‘brutally’ beat man at liquor store, police say. Now man sues for $50M
An off-duty cop walked into a liquor store, “brutally” beat a man and pulled a gun on him, Alabama police say.
Now that man, Demarcus Key, is suing for $50 million.
Sheffield police officer Max Dotson has been named in the lawsuit after he was found guilty in July on charges of reckless endangerment, menacing and assault related to the incident from December 2022, according to case records.
He was sentenced to two years in prison.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 8 in the Northern District of Alabama, names Dotson, three other officers, the liquor store and two cities.
Roderick Van Daniel, the attorney representing Key, said in a news release the lawsuit is meant to take a stand against “the egregious culture of police corruption” in the community.
McClatchy News could not immediately reach the parties for comment Dec. 14.
‘This man was innocent’
Key, a 44-year-old Black man, was inside a liquor store Dec. 23, 2022, when Dotson, who was off-duty, came in and started asking him questions.
Dotson asked Key about something involving his daughter, which Key said he knew nothing about, AL.com reported.
Then Key said Dotson “egregiously and brutally” beat him in the face and pulled a gun on him, according to the lawsuit.
Police were called, and Dotson exited the store.
A clerk at the liquor store told Key to leave, but he was afraid Dotson would harass him again outside. He ended up leaving the store and said Dotson assaulted him again, according to the lawsuit.
The first officer who arrived on the scene was a former colleague of Dotson’s, from when he worked at the Florence Police Department, the lawsuit says.
The officer arrested Key, who tried telling him the surveillance footage of the liquor store would show Dotson was the “aggressor,” according to the lawsuit.
“This man was innocent,” Van Daniel said.
Additional officers arrived on scene and reviewed the footage, but Key was taken to jail as Dotson went home, Key said in the lawsuit.
‘Above the law’ accusations
This incident wasn’t the first time Dotson has been accused of violent behavior.
The officer was on unpaid leave at the Florence Police Department in 2016, pending a recommendation for dismissal filed against him, when he was charged with a domestic violence offense.
He pleaded guilty to that charge, according to the Florence Police, and later joined the Sheffield Police Department in the neighboring city.
‘Get him!’ Officer ordered K-9 to bite ‘defenseless’ man on his porch, Alabama suit says
Dotson was also named in a lawsuit filed by Marvin Long, a Sheffield man who says he was attacked on his porch by a police dog at officers’ orders, McClatchy News previously reported. Body-worn cameras documented the 2021 attack.
Key is seeking $40 million in “compensatory and consequential damages, including damages for emotional distress, humiliation, loss of enjoyment of life and other pain and suffering.” He is looking for an additional $10 million in punitive damages.
“It is very clear and known in this community that these officers think that they are above the law,” Van Daniel said.
Sheffield is in northwestern Alabama, about 115 miles northwest of Birmingham.
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