A Georgia woman says Marion County, Tenn., deputies had no reason to unleash a "hail of bullets" that fatally struck her 59-year-old father last December outside a trailer along Highway 134.
Deidra Ann Berner is asking Marion County government and a handful of deputies for $30 million in connection with the Dec. 27, 2016, incident that killed William John Berner, according to a recent lawsuit filed in Marion County Circuit Court.
Authorities initially said the incident began as a "drunk and disorderly" call that devolved into a confrontation around 6 p.m. between deputies and Berner in unincorporated Whiteside. Berner drove his Ford F-350 pickup truck toward deputies and they fired at Berner as he sped toward them, authorities said.
But Berner's daughter and her attorneys, Robin Flores and Tom Weldon, said they've interviewed a non-law-enforcement witness who has a different version of the shooting.
According to the lawsuit filed Dec. 13, Berner drove over to his friend Randy Ford's trailer and passed out on the couch after talking and drinking alcohol. He was still asleep when deputy Chris Masterson knocked on the door to investigate a disorderly call, the suit says.
Flores said Tuesday he isn't sure yet who called deputies out there. But the suit says Ford didn't let the deputies in because they didn't have a search warrant.
From there, "Masterson left the front door of Ford's home and went to where he and the [other deputies] had parked their police vehicles," the suit says.
Meanwhile, Ford told Berner what was happening indoors. Still drunk, Berner made a "hostile call" to the Jasper Police Department and tried to leave out the back, the suit says.
Berner slowly drove his truck from behind Ford's trailer, which was parallel with Highway 134, and stopped about 150 feet from Masterson and his fellow deputies, who were blocking the driveway, the suit says.
The Marion County Sheriff's Office and Jasper Police Department could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But the suit says Masterson and the deputies pulled out their guns and commanded Berner to get out of his stopped truck.
Ford, meanwhile, was already outside trying to assure Masterson and three other deputies that Berner wasn't a problem, Flores said. At that point, Berner's truck rolled "forward slowly for a few feet" as he attempted to leave, the suit says, and the deputies opened fire.
One bullet ripped into Berner's right breast and sliced across his chest, the suit says. Berner drove across the grass, over a ditch and onto Highway 134 to escape the "hail of bullets," the suit says.
The deputies started after the pickup, but Berner had already crashed when they caught up to him a short distance down the road at a railroad overpass bridge. Berner was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to his obituary, Berner owned and operated Lookout Valley Equipment.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which took over the officer-involved shooting, was not open Tuesday to discuss the case.
Flores said their factual basis comes from an interview with Ford as well as an autopsy and medical photographs. He said he plans to file a request soon asking Marion County to preserve and turn over more evidence from that day.
From here, Marion County likely will file a response in court, and both parties will move toward a settlement, dismissal or trial.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.