A case continues in federal court today in which family members claim that three Hamilton County sheriff’s deputies used “excessive force” in 2007 when they shot and killed a man the deputies say was combative and wielding a knife.
The wrongful death civil trial against the county comes in the wake of five incidents of officer-involved shootings across the Chattanooga region last year.
In the civil proceeding now being tried in front of U.S. District Judge Curtis L. Collier, family members of Thomas Earl Jones say three sheriff’s deputies shot him seven times from different angles. They say there is evidence that Mr. Jones, who was highly intoxicated at the time, was running away from the officers and did not have the faculties to threaten one of the officers with a knife.
“This knife was an attempt, unfortunately, by law enforcement to justify their actions,” attorney Robin Flores told jurors in his opening statement Monday.
Eyewitness Kenneth Hafley, who will continue testifying today, told jurors that he saw Mr. Jones climbing a fence on his property on Hapley Road in an apparent attempt to get away from the deputies. At that point, he heard gunshots, Mr. Hafley testified.
According to an affidavit filed in court, Mr. Hafley also claims that the sheriff’s office “intimidated” him in the days after the shooting and suggested that he “saw nothing.” He even claims that former Sheriff Billy Long, currently serving a federal prison sentence on a drug conviction, came to his house and offered him a job with the sheriff’s office.
The defense adamantly denies Mr. Hafley’s account of events, claiming Mr. Jones was a repeat offender known to be combative with police.
According to the defense, Mr. Jones stole a relative’s vehicle in March 2007 while extremely intoxicated, eventually stopping in Mr. Hafley’s driveway and telling deputies that they’d have to “kill him” before he ever went back to jail. He then began lunging at a female deputy with a knife, the defense claims.
“All it would have taken was one more step and he could have hit her,” defense attorney Jerry Tidwell told jurors in his opening statement. “(Mr. Jones) gave them no other choice.”