A second private security guard faces a lawsuit for alleged aggressive behavior while working at Brainerd High School after a new complaint was filed Monday in Hamilton County.
The lawsuit accuses Jovonn Jackson, who worked as a security guard at the school for two days in January, of using excessive force with a then-16-year-old female student while she was trying to enter the school.
Jackson was hired by guard Josephus Reed, also named in the lawsuit along with Brainerd High School Principal Crystal Sorrells and the school district. A spokesperson for Hamilton County Schools said the district is aware of the suit but declined to comment in an email Tuesday because of the open litigation.
Reed was sued earlier this month by former Brainerd High School student Jermaine Fleetwood for alleged aggressive conduct while working as a guard. Both cases were filed by Chattanooga attorney Robin Flores.
Court documents say Reed’s company, Bigfoot Private Enforcement Security, started working at the school Jan. 4, though the district had not approved a contract with the guards. Neither the company nor Reed were licensed by the state to provide security, according to court filings.
Reed also faces criminal charges of aggravated assault and impersonating a licensed professional for a Jan. 5 incident in which a student said Reed punched him after trying to pull his sweatshirt hood off his head. He is set to appear in court Wednesday on those charges and could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
The latest lawsuit claims the 16-year-old student was entering the school when she saw Reed struggling with the other student, who she later learned was her cousin, Jermaine Fleetwood. She called her father, telling him the guards were being aggressive, according to the complaint.
While on the phone, she tried to walk through the metal detector when Jackson allegedly grabbed her bag from behind and jerked her backward, the complaint said. The bag strap was around her arm and neck, according to the complaint, and the student nearly fell.
The student’s father, Quintin Howard, filed the complaint on her behalf. It argues that Jackson’s behavior hurt the student physically and caused her fear and humiliation and asks for damages to be awarded by the court. Howard said his main goal with the lawsuit is to see the school held accountable and the district adopt guidelines, including background checks, for hiring private security.
Howard went to the school after hearing his daughter’s altercation with Jackson over the phone, he said. When he was walking in, he was also grabbed by one of the guards, he said.
“If I’m having to go through this, I can just imagine what these other kids are going through,” Howard said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I’m a lot older, so my skin is a little thicker, but I had to think in the mind of my daughter and it really frustrated me.”
A school administrator first told Howard that nothing had happened but later backtracked when his daughter shared her experience with the guard, Howard said.
Sorrells, the principal, was suspended for around two months after the incident and was reinstated after an investigation.
The complaint also accuses Sorrells and the school district of allowing the guards on campus without doing background checks. Court records show Jackson has been convicted of domestic assault three times in Hamilton County, most recently in 2015. One of those convictions required him to take a 26-week anger management course, according to the lawsuit. Jackson did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
“How is he able to be security at a school with prior aggressive history?” Howard said.
Now 17, the student is in her last year at Brainerd High School and still doesn’t feel totally safe there, though she’s more comfortable without the guards, Howard said.
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.
Staff photo / The cafeteria is seen during an open house to show renovations at Brainerd High School on Aug. 4, 2019.