Case 5:20-cv-00430-LCB Document 1 Filed 03/26/20 Page 1 of 15 FILED

2020 Mar-27 AM 10:36

U.S. DISTRICT COURT
N.D. OF ALABAMA

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, NORTHEASTERN DIVISION

DOUGLAS C. MARTINSON II, )

as personal representative of )
the estate of Jeffrey Parker, deceased ) Jury Trial Demanded
)
Plaintiff )
v. ) Case No. _____________________
)
WILLIAM DARBY )
CITY OF HUNTSVILLE )
)
Defendants )

COMPLAINT

Comes now the plaintiff, Douglas C. Martinson II, in his capacity as the

personal representative of the estate of Jeffrey Parker, deceased, who alleges the

following facts, asserts the following causes of action, and seeks to recover the

following damages against William Darby and the City of Huntsville.

Parties, Jurisdiction, and Venue

1. The decedent, Jeffrey Parker, was 49 years old at the time of his death on

April 3, 2018. He was a resident and citizen of Madison County, Alabama.

2. The plaintiff, Douglas C. Martinson II, is over the age of nineteen years,

and a resident and citizen of Madison County, Alabama. He is the personal

representative of the estate of Jeffrey Parker, deceased, having been appointed on

June 1, 2018 by the Probate Court of Madison County (Case No. 67516).

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3. The defendant, the City of Huntsville, is an Alabama municipal corporation

that duly organized the Huntsville Police Department ("HPD") and authorized its

policies, procedures, customs and practices which govern the duties and actions of

its police officers. The City can be served through Kenneth Benion, its City Clerk

Treasurer, at 308 Fountain Circle (City Hall), 3rd Floor, Huntsville, Alabama 35801.

Plaintiff filed/served a verified notice of claim with Mr. Benion on October 1, 2018.

4. The defendant, William Darby, is a resident and citizen of Morgan County,

Alabama, who was working in the line and scope of his employment as a police

officer with the City, by and through the HPD, on April 3, 2018. Darby can be served

at his residence at Hartselle, Alabama

35640. All of Darby's actions set forth in this complaint were done within the course

and scope of his employment with the City, and under color of Alabama State law.

Darby is only sued in his individual capacity, and not in his official capacity.

5. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over Count 1 pursuant to 28

U.S.C. § 1331 because it alleges violations of the United States Constitution and 42

U.S.C. § 1983. This Court has supplemental federal jurisdiction pursuant to 28

U.S.C. § 1367(a) over Count 2, which asserts claims under Alabama law.

6. Venue is proper in this division and district under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(2)

because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred

in this division and district. Venue is also proper in this division and district pursuant

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to 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(1) and (c)(2) because Darby and the City reside in this

division and district under the meaning of this statute.

Statement of Facts

7. This is a wrongful death case resulting from Huntsville Police Department

("HPD") officers shooting and killing Jeffrey Parker.

8. The City has failed and refused to address known systemic deficiencies

regarding the use of force by HPD police officers for years.

9. While the City had written policies and procedures prohibiting the use of

excessive force, the City also had an unwritten custom and practice for years prior

to the subject April 3, 2018 shooting incident, of refusing to discipline and hold

accountable officers who use unconstitutional, excessive, and/or unskillful force in

the line of duty, whether by shooting or otherwise.

10. Specifically, the City established a "board," which ostensibly gave the

appearance that the City was allegedly closely examining and reviewing each

instance of force resulting in serious injury or death.

11. The City allowed the Madison County District Attorney's Office to sit on

the "board," as well as members of the City's Citizen Advisory Council, which were

citizens hand-picked by the City. However, neither had any vote or had any power

to discipline, educate, or discharge any HPD officer who used excessive,

unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force.

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12. Instead, the City controlled the "board," not only by having the City

Attorney's Office sit in on the meetings, but more importantly by restricting all

decisions to three HPD supervisors picked by the HPD Chief of Police. Stated

differently, although the Madison County District Attorney's Office and the Citizen

Advisory Council is considered part of the "board," neither is involved in any

discussion or determination as to whether an officer violated policy or used

excessive, unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force, and neither is entitled to vote or

have any say in whether officers should face disciplinary action or receive more

education and training.

13. During the many years preceding this subject shooting death on April 3,

2020, the three supervisors almost always determined that the officer's force was

proper and acceptable, even when the officer violated policy and/or used excessive,

unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force. Upon information and belief, the three

supervisors were rarely, if ever, critical of an HPD officer's use of force, and even

then, no real discipline, education, or training was ever imposed.

14. In so doing, the City established a custom or practice of condoning

excessive, unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force -- a custom and practice that all

HPD officers knew would always protect them if they used excessive,

unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force.

15. Because of this custom and practice, the HPD officers subjectively

believed, and had good reason to believe, that they would never suffer any
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repercussions for using excessive, unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force,

including excessive, unconstitutional, and/or unskillful deadly force. Thus, this

custom and practice resulted in encouraging HPD officers to use excessive,

unconstitutional, and/or unskillful force.

16. The City was subjectively aware of the risk of harm of such a custom and

policy but explicitly or implicitly allowed custom and practice to continue. The City

and its governing officials knew this custom and practice created a substantial risk

of serious harm, and the deprivation of constitutional rights, to residents, citizens,

and guests in Madison County. They also knew the continuance of the custom and

policy would result in the infliction of unnecessary pain and suffering by those who

interacted with the HPD. They were on notice that their custom and practice from

complaints, communications from correctional officers, from their own

observations, from common sense, from other injuries and deaths, from other

lawsuits, and by other ways. Some (but not all) prior instances are as follows.

17. On June 27, 2006, Kenneth Wayne Jamar sustained serious personal

injuries when he was shot multiple times by HPD officers, who went to the wrong

address to serve a search warrant intended for another individual. Jamar was asleep

and unarmed in his bed when the HPD officers broke into his home and fired on him

with assault rifles at close range.

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18. On February 10, 2008, HPD officers spotted Carlos Frazier's vehicle

because it allegedly matched a vehicle that was involved in shooting. HPD officers

dragged him from his car, slammed him to ground, choked him, and struck him.

19. On April 23, 2003, an HPD officer shot Rickey Lee Scheuerman multiple

times while he was driving, even though he violated no law.

20. On January 2, 2009, HPD officers pulled Callie Hawkins over, assaulted

her with a flashlight, pepper spray, and kicking.

21. On July 28, 2002, an HPD officer slammed Laticia Neely to the ground,

positioned his body on top of her, and choked her.

22. Upon information and belief, the three HPD supervisors found that the

HPD officers acted appropriately in all of these instances.

23. It was well known to HPD officers, including Darby, that the City had a

custom and practice of allowing its officers to use excessive, unconstitutional, and/or

unskillful force. The HPD officers, including Darby, had this knowledge from the

incidents described above, from other similar incidents that occurred over the years,

from their conversations with each other and with their superiors, through their daily

observations regarding how HPD officers used force, and in other ways.

24. On April 3, 2018, Parker was suicidal. At about 4:25 p.m. on that date, he

called 911 and reported that he was armed and planned to "blow his brains out."

Parker told the 911 operator that the front door of his house on Deramus Avenue in

Huntsville was unlocked for whomever was sent.

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25. The City dispatched Darby and HPD Officers Genisha Pegues and Justin

Beckles to Parker's house. All three officers that were present that day were wearing

body cameras and all of their interactions with Parker were recorded.

26. Pegues and Beckles were the first to arrive at the scene. Pegues knocked

on the front door. Parker responded from inside that the door was open. Pegues

entered the house with her gun drawn, but pointed downward in a neutral position.

27. Parker was sitting on the couch with a gun to his head, his legs crossed on

the coffee table. He was approximately 25 feet away from Pegues. As Parker's dog

went to greet Pegues, Parker reassured her that it would not hurt her.

28. Pegues immediately started speaking to Parker, by asking him his name

and whether anyone else was in the house. Parker told her that his fiancé was

upstairs.

29. Pegues asked Parker what was going on with him that day and why he

would want to end his life. Upon information and belief, Parker indicated that he

was "strung out on drugs." During this conversation, neither Parker, Pegues, or

Beckles spoke with raised or aggressive voices. More important, Parker never

moved the gun he was holding to his own head; nor did he move in any way.

30. Darby arrived outside the house approximately five minutes after Pegues

and Beckles had arrived. He was only 25 years old and had less than two years of

police experience, having graduated from the police academy in July 2016. He was

a Top Gun award winner, which tested accuracy, in both a pistol and a shotgun.
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31. Upon arrival, Darby muttered expletives as he took out a shotgun from his

vehicle. While walking towards the house, Darby unloaded a buckshot and put in a

slug. A buckshot round has about 10-12 multiple projectiles that scatter when shot.

A slug is a single projectile that is more accurate at a distance.

32. When Darby arrived, Beckles was standing on the porch at the threshold

of the door. Pegues was standing partly in and partly out of the doorway.

33. While still in the front yard, Darby could not see Parker, know where he

was in the house, or what he was doing. Despite his ignorance of all of these things,

Darby began screaming at Pegues while he was still in the front yard: "Point your

fucking gun at him, he can shoot you!"

34. Parker calmly told Pegues, "I'm not going to shoot you." He also told her,

"I don't want to hurt you."

35. Nevertheless, despite hearing these things, but still outside the house and

still ignorant of what was going on inside, and the progress Pegues had made, Darby

screamed "Put your gun down!" to Parker.

35. Pegues continued to calm Parker, telling him "I don't want to see anything

bad happen to you." Pegues also tried to calm Darby, who was walking towards her,

telling him, "Look, I can see him, he's right here in front of me."

36. Darby disregarded Pegues, charged towards the house, pushed past

Beckles and Pegues – both his senior officers who had the situation under control –

and inserted himself between Pegues and Parker.

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37. Darby screamed "Put the gun down!" Beckles stated, "Hey man, put the

gun down, put the gun down." Pegues continued to talk to Parker in attempt to keep

him calm even though Darby kept screaming at him.

38. Parker was still motionless on the couch with his gun to his own head. He

was not an immediate threat to Darby or the other two officers present.

39. Nevertheless, Darby yelled again, "Put the gun down. I'm not going to tell

you again!" Parker did not move, and made no threatening movements. Three

seconds later, Darby shot Parker in the mouth while Pegues was mid-sentence

talking to him.

40. After Darby killed Parker, none of the officers spoke. Officer Beckles

refused to look at Darby.

41. Darby killed Parker less than a minute after parking at Parker's house.

42. Parker had never moved from his seated position on the couch. Parker had

never made any threatening statements or gestures, and he had never moved the gun

from his head. Pegues never felt that her life was in danger from Parker. Pegues and

Beckles never saw Parker move his gun.

43. Parker's fiancé came downstairs and suffered a panic attack. Pegues took

her out of the house.

44. Immediately after the shooting, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and HPD

Chief Mark McMurray began a media campaign supporting Darby and ratifying his

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use of unconstitutional, excessive, and/or unskillful force, erroneously stating that

his use of force was proper.

45. However, the City has refused to release to the public the body camera

videos and other records related to Darby and the shooting.

46. Approximately two weeks after the shooting, in a secret "proceeding," the

three HPD supervisors cleared Darby of all departmental wrongdoing and stated that

Darby's use of deadly force was proper and just.

47. The Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard, whose office

observed the "proceedings," was troubled by what he saw, and presented the case to

the Madison County Grand Jury, which indicted Darby for murder on August 3,

2018 pursuant to Ala. Code § 13A-6-2. (See 47-CC-2018-3238, Pate, J., presiding)

48. Part and parcel of the City's custom and practice to ignore and coverup

any and all instances of excessive force, the Mayor, the HPD Police Chief, and the

City Council has continued its press campaign to ratify Darby's actions, declaring

numerous times publicly that Darby did nothing wrong.

49. The City Council authorized $125,000 in City money to defend Darby in

the criminal action. The City has never before paid for the criminal defense of a

police officer. Councilwoman Jennie Robinson stated that paying for Darby's

defense "sends a message" that the City "supports the local police force."

50. As part of the criminal action, the State subpoenaed the body cam footage,

the transcripts, and the other materials generated by, and given to, the three
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supervisors. However, part and parcel of the City's custom and practice to ignore

and coverup any and all instances of excessive force, the City has aggressively

opposed that subpoena, seeking to keep these events secret.

51. As of the date of this filing, the murder trial against Darby is not currently

set for trial.

CAUSES OF ACTION

Count 1: Excessive Force Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

52. This cause of action is brought against Darby and the City pursuant to 42

U.S.C. § 1983, the Fourth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 1988, and the Alabama

Wrongful Death Act, Ala. Code § 6-5-410. Plaintiff incorporates by reference all

factual allegations in the preceding paragraphs.

53. Darby, while acting under color of law, deprived Parker of his Fourth

Amendment right to be free from excessive or unreasonable force during an arrest

or seizure.

54. As described above, Darby subjected Parker to excessive and

unreasonable force when Darby shot Parker in the mouth. At all times when Darby

was present at the scene, including the moment Parker was shot, Parker was seated

– unmoving – on his living room couch. Parker made no threatening statements and

at all times had his gun pointed at his own head. Parker did not pose an immediate

threat of harm to Darby. No reasonably prudent officer, faced with similar

circumstances, would have acted as Darby acted.

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55. Darby's unconstitutional and excessive acts of force against Parker were

done with reckless indifference and a callous disregard of Parker's Fourth

Amendment rights.

56. Moreover, Darby's use of excessive force was caused, in part, by the

unconstitutional and deliberately indifferent customs and practices of the City as set

forth above. These § 1983 claims against the City are not brought pursuant to the

doctrine of respondeat superior, but pursuant to Monell v. Dep't of Soc. Servs., 436

U.S. 658, 694 (1978) and its progeny, because the City had a custom and practice

that constituted a deliberate indifference to Parker's constitutional rights that was the

moving force behind Darby's unconstitutional and excessive use of deadly force.

57. The City and its HPD supervisors and policymakers subjectively knew

that their customs and practices in failing to discipline and/or educate previous

officers' use of unconstitutional and excessive force would result in more instances

of excessive force, serious injury, harm, and/or death. They were not only aware of

facts from which these conclusions could be drawn, they in fact each subjectively

drew such conclusions. Nevertheless, they disregarded the risk to the those like

Parker who encounter HPD officers, and in so doing they acted with more than gross

negligence. They also ratified his unconstitutional conduct as set forth above.

58. The City's unconstitutional policies were the driving force behind Darby's

unconstitutional and excessive force. As a direct and proximate result of the

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combining and concurring unconstitutional conduct of Darby and the City, Parker

suffered a shotgun blast to his face and died.

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Plaintiff respectfully requests

this Honorable Court: (1) to enter judgment against Darby and the City; (2) to award

him, in an amount determined by the jury, either (a) punitive damages pursuant to

Ala. Code § 6-5-410 for the death of Jeffrey Parker or (b) compensatory damages

arising out of his death according to federal common law remedy, including, but not

limited to, lost wages and benefits, and future earning capacity; (3) to award him

attorney's fees, expert witness fees, court costs, and interest as allowed by law; and

(4) to award him all other relief as the Court deems proper.

Count 2: Common Law Negligence and Wantonness

59. This cause of action is brought against Darby and the City pursuant to the

common law of the State of Alabama, Ala. Code § 11-47-190, and the Alabama

Wrongful Death Act, Ala. Code § 6-5-410. Plaintiff incorporates by reference all

factual allegations in the preceding paragraphs.

60. Darby negligently and/or wantonly shot Parker in violation of (1) the

standard of care applicable to police officers, (2) Alabama state law, (3) the specific,

mandatory, and non-discretionary duties prescribed by the HPD for performing his

work; and (4) the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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61. In so doing, Darby acted with neglect, carelessness or unskillfulness

and/or acted willfully, maliciously, in bad faith, recklessly, beyond his authority or

under a mistaken interpretation of the law.

62. Darby was acting in the line and scope of his employment with the City,

making the City vicariously liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior and Ala.

Code § 11-47-190 for his neglectful, careless, and unskillful use of force.

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, Plaintiff respectfully requests

this Honorable Court: (1) to enter judgment against Darby and the City; (2) to award

him, in an amount determined by the jury, punitive damages pursuant to Ala. Code

§ 6-5-410 for the death of Jeffrey Parker; (3) to award him court costs, and interest

as allowed by law; and (4) to award him all other relief as the Court deems proper.

Jury Demand

63. Plaintiff requests a trial by jury on all factual issues, including damages.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Richard Riley

Wm. R. Rip Andrews
David Tyler Brown
Richard J. Riley
Attorneys for Plaintiff Douglas C. Martinson II

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OF COUNSEL:
MARSH, RICKARD & BRYAN P.C.

ALSO REPRESENTING PLAINTIFF:

Martin Weinberg Esq.

35215

Request for Service by Certified Mail

Plaintiff Douglas C. Martinson II requests the Clerk to immediately issue a

summons for each of the following defendants so they can be served by certified
U.S. Mail pursuant to F.R.C.P. 4(e)(1) and A.R.C.P. 4(i)(2).

WILLIAM DARBY

CITY OF HUNTSVILLE
c/o Kenneth Benion, City Clerk Treasurer
308 Fountain Circle (City Hall); 3rd Floor
Huntsville, Alabama 35801

/s/ Richard Riley

Richard Riley

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