A former Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy was found not responsible in a civil lawsuit alleging he unlawfully touched a man’s genitals during a traffic stop.
Daniel Wilkey and the sheriff’s office will not be required to pay any damages to Maxwell Jarnagin, who, in December 2019, filed the lawsuit alleging battery, a verdict form shows.
A Hamilton County Circuit Court jury deliberated Wednesday for less than 30 minutes before returning the verdict in favor of the sheriff’s office.
“The evidence in this case has now been presented from both sides, and I would like to thank the jurors for their diligent deliberations in this matter and for rendering a verdict in favor of our agency and Hamilton County,” Sheriff Austin Garrett said in a news release.
The lawsuit stemmed from a traffic stop on the evening of March 30, 2019.
Jarnagin was in a car on the 12500 block of Dayton Pike when he was stopped by deputies, the complaint stated. It was in a sparsely populated, isolated area of north Hamilton County.
Wilkey allegedly ordered Jarnagin out of the car and told him to stand in front of the police car, the complaint stated.
Jarnagin was then handcuffed.
Wilkey was accused of putting his hand down inside the front of Jarnagin’s trousers and inappropriately touching Jarnagin’s genitals without consent, the lawsuit claimed.
“The fondling of Jarnagin’s genitals served no recognized police policy,” the complaint said.
As a result, Jarnagin allegedly suffered emotional and psychological pain and suffering, humiliation and fear, the complaint stated.
John Cavett, Jarnagin’s attorney, did not respond to a voicemail left at his law office.
(READ MORE: Soddy-Daisy officers on leave after testifying about a fellow officer)
OTHER LEGAL TROUBLES
Around the same time the lawsuit was filed, Wilkey was criminally indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury in connection with this incident and others.
It was a 44 count indictment, which addressed crimes allegedly committed against four different people.
Wilkey’s charges included rape, official oppression, assault, false imprisonment, reckless endangerment and reckless driving.
All of them were ultimately dismissed last year after files in his case went missing.
“When I heard about it, of course I was glad to hear it,” Garrett said at the time following the dismissal. “It’s a good resolution.”
The close of Jarnagin’s lawsuit does not bring Wilkey’s legal troubles to an end.
Wilkey is at the center of at least two other ongoing lawsuits over two separate 2019 traffic stops.
He is accused of coercing Shandle Riley into being baptized.
Riley had a marijuana roach in her car, and Wilkey allegedly said he would only write her a ticket and speak on her behalf in court if she agreed to be baptized.
They drove separately to a nearby lake, where Wilkey baptized her.
“This case arises from a traffic stop that ended like no other of which we are aware,” a judge wrote in a federal appeal opinion.
In a separate case, Wilkey is accused of performing a roadside cavity search of James Mitchell.
Mitchell was found with a small bag of marijuana during a traffic stop. Deputies allegedly pulled his boxers down to visually inspect his genitals and buttocks with a flashlight.
“Lastly, Wilkey got some gloves and, while (Bobby) Brewer held Mitchell, Wilkey pulled Mitchell’s boxers down, smacked his bare buttocks and took a plastic baggie with drug residue from his backside,” a federal opinion states.
Mitchell later sought treatment for contusions and a possible anal tear.
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.