Pensacola man at center of SWAT search plans to sue police, EMS. What he says happened:

A team of lawyers representing Corey Marioneaux Jr., a Pensacola man who fired a bullet at a Pensacola Police Department SWAT team earlier this month, and his family announced their intentions Thursday to pursue civil actions against the PPD, Escambia County EMS and Navy Federal Credit Union.

The attorneys also stated they are asking the State Attorney's Office to drop any and all criminal charges against Marioneaux.

Marioneaux, 23, was charged by police with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer in connection to the Feb. 3 SWAT team incident in which PPD officers executed a search warrant at his home in the 2500 block of North Seventh Avenue.

Police have since stated that the purpose of the search was to gather possible evidence related to a Jan. 22 non-fatal shooting in downtown Pensacola in which two people were injured.

The legal team representing Marioneaux and his family spoke and presented the basic arguments for their pending legal actions at a press conference Thursday morning on the front steps of the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church.

One attorney, James Bryant of The Cochran Firm, explained to a crowd of about 30 people that the only reason Marioneaux fired his gun on the night of the search was because he hadn't realized the SWAT team was police.

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Bryant said that, in the confusion of the moment, his client had mistaken the officers as potentially dangerous people who were breaking into his home. He said that Marioneaux took the actions that any father would have taken to protect his children — Cylen, 1, and Caion, 3 — who had been present and sleeping in his bed with him that night.

"At approximately 4:45 a.m., Mr. Marioneaux, and his two boys — ages 1 and 3 — were peacefully sleeping in their home. Suddenly they heard an unfamiliar boom at their door," Bryant said. "It was an unfamiliar boom, a frightening boom, and Corey did what every father in America would do.

"He grabbed his firearm," Bryant continued. "And why did he grab his firearm? He grabbed his firearm to protect his little boys from whoever was invading his home."

According to a police report, Marioneaux fired one bullet at an officer before peacefully surrendering and repeatedly apologizing to the officers.

Bryant argued that the officers who entered Marioneaux’s home violated the PPD’s “Knock and Announce” policy. The lawyer stated that the policy mandates PPD officers to wait at least 15 seconds before entering a home after announcing their presence.

The PPD arrest report stated that the SWAT team "loudly" knocked and announced "search warrant" for "approximately 10 seconds" before using a ram to batter open Marioneaux’s front door.

Marioneaux’s attorneys plan to utilize a Castle Doctrine or stand your ground state statute as part of their criminal-defense strategy.

“The Castle Doctrine applies either when the individual doesn’t know that it is law enforcement coming into his home or if law enforcement doesn’t follow policy,” Bryant said.

He added, “It’s bad enough his children have been traumatized — absolutely traumatized — but he has to think about, every day, knowing that I might be going to jail for something that all I did was try to protect my family.”

After Marioneaux was taken into custody, and his sons were placed in the care of the PPD until their mother — 24-year-old Moiya Dixon — was called to pick them up.

"And that is when the story continues to take an even more disgusting twist," Bryant said.

While being looked after by police, Marioneaux and Dixon's youngest son, Cylen, fell out of the backseat of a PPD cruiser, injuring his face.

Dixon, who spoke at the press conference, said that when she arrived at the scene, police tried to dissuade her from taking her bloodied and bruised son to the hospital.

She and Marioneaux's attorneys now claim the officers' decision to tell her not to seek medical care was part of an attempt to cover up their blunder and it included calling off EMS help for the boy.

The attorneys explained their planned civil actions against the PPD and county EMS stem from the department's negligence to properly look after Marioneaux and Dixon's son while he was in their care.

The PPD launched an Internal Affairs investigation into the Feb. 3 incident.

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Rodney Biggs, of law firm Ivie McNeill Wyatt Purcell and Diggs, who also plans on representing Dixon and her children in a civil lawsuit, said police first called EMS to the scene before police then quickly "turned them away."

The job of EMS was to “come and check on this little 1-year-old baby,” Biggs said. “EMS did not do that.”

According to Biggs, an EMS medical report related to the Feb. 3 incident stated that “there was some issue” with Cylen’s pelvic region.

“They don’t mention any of the scratches, the bruising. They don’t mention anything that you see in the picture,” Biggs said, referring to an approximately 4-foot tall photo of Cylen’s injured face that attorneys brought with them to the press conference.

“And they should have done their jobs,” Biggs continued. “Cylen deserved medical attention because he is so young we may not know what the effects are, and he may feel them when he gets older and it’s going to be cause by what occurred on that night.

“But EMS did not do their job,” he repeated.

Multiple attorneys said Marioneaux was fired from his job at Navy Federal the day after the incident.

"He was fired from his job, and the reason that they gave was due to the circumstances. Well, what circumstances?" Diggs asked. "Protecting his children in his home when unknown individuals, at that time, bust into his home around 4 in the morning?"

Although Marioneaux may have been already charged with a crime at the time that he lost his job, he had not been convicted, and the attorneys added that they plan to file a civil lawsuit against Navy Federal based on a claim of wrongful termination.

"This is a wrongful termination in violation of public policy. His job is now acting like judge, jury and executioner," Biggs said. "They’re basically saying, oh, you’re guilty of this — we know you are— young black man’s guilty, and we’re going to fire you. And you have done nothing wrong this entire time, but you know what? It seems it though. So, you can’t have your job, you’re done, no pay, that’s it."

Escambia County did not immediately respond to the News Journal's request for comment Thursday regarding the role of its EMS department in the litigation.

Pensacola police declined to comment on the matter, citing a recently opened Internal Affairs investigation. PPD spokesman Officer Mike Wood said neither he nor any other PPD representatives would be permitted to publicly comment on the issue until the conclusion of the Internal Affairs investigation.

A written statement from Navy Federal's office of Corporate Communications stated, "We're not able to speak to issues related to pending litigation."

The State Attorney's Office did not respond to News Journal's request for comment after the Thursday press conference. However, last week, Frederick Longmire, State Attorney's Office director of public relations and professional development, said in a statement, "This case remains under investigation. At this time, a filing decision has not be made by the Office of the State Attorney."

Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola SWAT case leads to lawsuits against police, EMS, Navy Federal