A federal jury in Chattanooga today began hearing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office for the 2007 shooting death of a man deputies say was combative and wielding a knife.
Thomas Earl Jones died in 2007 after being shot seven times by three sheriff’s deputies. His family is seeking economic damages, arguing that that officers used “excessive forces” while he was trying to run away from them.
During opening arguments in front of U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier this morning, the defendants’ attorney Jerry Tidwell characterized Mr. Jones as a “drunk” who was known to run from police and become combative.
Mr. Jones was out of prison at the time in 2007 when he got extremely drunk, stole a relative’s vehicle and tried to elude police when they stopped him on a long, rural county driveway leading up to someone’s house.
Mr. Tidwell said the victim continuously shouted he wasn’t going back to prison and that they would “have to kill” him first. He got within five feet of one female officer while wielding a knife, and Mr. Tidwell said the victim “gave the officers no other choice” but to shoot him in self defense.