Global Courant 2023-05-09 23:52:17
The deputies fired 50 times at close range, and when it was over, the deafening roar was replaced by Beason’s piercing screams, the video shows.
“In utter shock, Plaintiff Beason dove back screaming in horror as bullets from the sheriff’s deputies hit the vehicle and missed her,” the suit states.
Now, two years after the May 7, 2021 confrontation with the York County Sherriff’s Office deputies, the mother and son are suing York County and the department for unspecified damages.
“There was a bullet that hit him in the middle of the back of the head,” Mullinax’s attorney Justin Bamberg said Tuesday at a news conference attended by Beason. “Never seen someone shot in the back of the head that is a threat to the police or anyone else.”
Mullinax, who stood next to Bamberg at the press conference, weighed in after his lawyer described how the chain of events leading up to his shooting was precipitated by a mental health crisis.
“May is mental health awareness month,” Mullinax said. “I hate having to be the face of it this month. But if it helps one single person in this world not to have to go through it, then me and my family are fine.”
Beason said she has always supported law enforcement, but seeing her son shot has shaken her faith in the police.
“Just because they’re a law enforcement agency doesn’t give them the right to do what they did,” Beason said. “And, you know, I want to be able to believe in law enforcement and regain my belief that they won’t hurt you.”
The York County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released after the press conference that it had not yet served the lawsuit and would not comment on the allegations until their attorneys reviewed the court documents.
But, the agency said, the four deputies involved in the shooting were “cleared of any wrongdoing” following an investigation by the SC State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and that three of them are still at work in York counties.
“Mr. Mullinax chose to endanger these men by pulling a shotgun,” Sheriff Kevin Tolson said in the statement. “These deputies responded appropriately to the threat as they were trained to do. Had Mr. Mullinax made different choices that day, the deputies would not have been compelled to use force.”
Mullinax, 29, lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina, records show. Those same records also indicate that he was arrested for burglary and burglary and felony domestic violence. His mother is 48 and also lives in Rock Hill.
Trevor Mullinax in the hospital.Thanks to Tammy Beason
In court documents filed May 5 at the local Court of Common Pleas, Mullinax does not deny that he was in bad shape before the deputies arrived and the bullets started flying. He says he was in his pickup, which was parked on his family’s property, and his mother tried to comfort him.
“Trevor was just in a really dark place,” said Bamberg, who is also a Democratic member of the state’s House of Representatives. “And he had contemplated suicide.”
Just days before he was shot, Mullinax was having “trouble with this girlfriend” and kicked down the door of her house, Bamberg said.
“It led to him being charged with burglary, he didn’t steal anything,” Bamberg said. “It wasn’t like that charge was actually dropped, because it was nonsense.
When deputies arrived, Mullinax had a shotgun in the truck, but “at no point did he point the gun at himself” or anyone else, according to the indictment.
In the meantime, a call was made to the sheriff’s department by a friend or relative requesting a “welfare check” on Mullinax, the complaint said.
The dispatchers obtained the cell phone numbers of both Mullinax and his mother.
Instead of calling the numbers, a squad of deputies went to the lot and when they got there, Mullinax’s grandfather directed them to the back where his grandson was parked and talking to his mother, the papers say.
Mullinax’s grandfather talks to a team of deputies.Obtained by NBC News
“Prior to the location on the property where Plaintiff Mullinax was still in his pickup truck, the deputies drew their firearms and were prepared to shoot Plaintiff Mullinax and use deadly force before making verbal contact with him,” it said. the court papers. .
When they got there, the video shows that they started firing almost immediately.
Mullinax held up his arms and followed the orders of the deputies, his lawyers stressed.
At no time before, during, or after sheriff’s deputies began firing did Prosecutor Mullinax raise, aim, or otherwise move a weapon in a manner that would authorize sheriff’s deputies to use deadly force. use,” the statement said.
Despite this, the papers state, “the sheriff’s deputies arrested and charged plaintiff Mullinax with pointing and presenting a firearm to the deputies, which did not happen and was not true.”
The charges, the complaint alleges, were filed to provide “coverage” for “the utterly disproportionate use of deadly force by the sheriff’s deputies.”
Mullinax was hit nine times, including one in the back of the head, his lawyers said.
Beason, despite being right next to the pickup, was not hit by the gunfire.
The victim’s mother, Tammy Beason.Obtained by NBC News
There is no evidence that Mullinax or his mother “committed a crime or attempted to interfere with, interfere or resist arrest with any officer at the scene,” the indictment states. “On the contrary, all available evidence indicated that the plaintiff attempted to comply with the demands in the extremely short time immediately following the arrival of agents.”
