Federal Judge Dismisses Police Brutality Lawsuit
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OXFORD – A federal lawsuit stemming from an arrest in Water Valley in 2019 that made national headlines was dismissed last week on summary judgment, ending a two year legal battle. Davidtron Logan filed the lawsuit in February, 2020, seeking $5 million in damages for alleged police brutality against the City of Water Valley, Yalobusha County and individual law enforcement officers.
The lawsuit stemmed from a traffic stop that led to Logan’s arrest on July 18, 2019. His attorney, Carlos Moore, reached out to the press after the arrest with allegations that white law enforcement officers beat Logan, who is African American. The attorney released a picture that showed Logan sitting with his hands behind his back, his face bloody and one eye swollen shut. Moore also told media outlets that officers beat Logan while he was detained in handcuffs. Moore filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging Logan’s Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from excessive force and cruel and unusual punishment were violated.
Following Moore’s accusations, law enforcement officers involved in the arrest also answered questions from the press and refuted the allegations, explaining an altercation occurred after Logan resisted arrest and injured two officers on the scene. Law enforcement officers also claimed that Logan tried to toss a bag that contained MDMA from his vehicle as he approached the road block.
The federal lawsuit was put on hold for five months in 2020 while state charges filed against Logan stemming from the traffic stop were adjudicated in Yalobusha County Circuit Court. Logan was convicted of two criminal charges, possession of a controlled substance and simple assault on sheriff’s deputy Taylor Byford. He received a suspended 11 year, six month sentence for the drug charge and a suspended six month sentence for the assault charge as part of a negotiated plea agreement.
The federal case resumed in September, 2020, with a flurry of filings. In February U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers dismissed multiple defendants from the lawsuit including Yalobusha County, former Sheriff Lance Humphreys in his individual and official capacities, the City of Water Valley, former Water Valley Police Chief Mike King in his individual capacities, Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics (MBN) agent John Butts in his individual and official capacities, deputy sheriff Taylor Byford in his individual and official capacities and Water Valley Police officer Richard Willhite in his individual and official capacities.
In a ruling that followed later in February, MBN Agent Keith Davis was also dismissed from the lawsuit in his individual and official capacities, leaving Yalobusha County deputy sheriff Thomas West as the sole defendant.
Judge Biggers issued an order on Sept. 21 granting West’s motion for summary judgment and closing the case. An accompanying memorandum opinion filed with the order ]provided details about the ruling. According to the memo, the use of force was under the circumstances that included an assault on a police officer was not unreasonable.
“Based on Logan’s plea and conviction for assault against Deputy Byford, Deputy West had the right to use hand strikes against Logan to prevent him from willfully, unlawfully, and knowingly causing injury to Deputy Byford. Use of force is not unreasonable when the officer has reason to believe that the suspect poses a serious threat to others,” the judge wrote.
The opinion also states that “Logan incurred injuries to his face when, by his own admission, he attempted to flee from the officers, tripped and fell face-first onto the asphalt. It therefore cannot be said that his injuries resulted “directly and only” from Deputy West’s actions. Further, Logan testified that he did not know Deputy West and was unaware of any action Deputy West took against him,” the memo continued.
The filing also cites prior case law defining elements of reasonableness that include the severity of the crime at issue, whether the suspect posed a threat to an officer’s safety and whether the suspect was resisting arrest or attempting to flee.
“Here, the elements of reasonableness are easily met. First Logan was suspected and later convicted of a dug crime, which the Fifth Circuit considers a serious crimes. Second, Logan was reasonably perceived as a threat to an officer on the scene because of his continued attempts to resist arrest with kicking and other violent behavior. Logan also attempted to reach into his pockets during the struggles surrounding his arrest admittedly to retrieve drugs he wanted to discard. The officers reasonably interpreted this action as a potential threat that Logan appeared to be reaching for a weapon. Finally Logan admittedly attempted to flee during the incident and clearly resisted arrest,” the judge wrote.
