Personal Injury Law

Wrongful Death Suit Filed Against Undercover Police Officer in Georgia

By Michael

A wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Georgia claiming an undercover drug officer who shot and killed a minister in September was not legally certified as a police officer at the time.

Abigail Ayers, widow of Rev. Jonathan Ayers, filed the wrongful death lawsuit that also goes on to claim that Stephens County Sheriff?s Deputy Billy Shane Harrison was not trained properly to use firearms by the sheriff?s office. The suit also alleges that Harrison?s supervisor should have been aware of his lack of certification and not included him in the arrest that ended in Rev. Ayers? death.

Allegations in the suit that Harrison and another deputy, Chance Oxner, engaged in criminal activity run parallel with findings in the police investigation into Ayers? death, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

The suit also points a finger at Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley and Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell, the two supervisors who put Harrison and Oxner on the Mountain Judicial Circuit Narcotics Criminal Investigation and Suppression Team, a drug task force. The lawsuit claims the two sheriffs ignored problems observed in Harrison and Oxner and let them on the task force regardless of the issues.

Attorneys representing the defendants denied all of the accusations in the lawsuit. Harrison?s attorney Gus McDonald said all accusations of Harrison not being certified to fire a gun are false, and that Harrison has achieved several certifications in his career.

Rev. Jonathon Ayers, 28, accidentally stepped into the middle of an undercover police operation when he was found with a suspected drug dealer and an admitted prostitute on Sept. 1, 2009, according to the Journal Constitution. Officers were just about to move in and arrest the woman after a drug deal, and in the process they saw her getting out of Ayers? vehicle near a hotel.

Officers confronted Ayers at a nearby gas station and tried to block Ayers? vehicle, and identified themselves as officers, but he still tried to evade them, according to the Constitution. Harrison said he shot at Ayers because he thought Oxner was possibly killed by Ayers and he might be next.

Ayers kept driving, though he was wounded, until he crashed his vehicle in a nearby utility pole. He died later at a hospital.

The personal injury lawsuit Harrison, Oxner and their immediate supervisor Kyle Brant of wrongful death, assault and battery. The suit also claims that the two sheriffs fell short of their responsibilities and that Shirley and Harrison both acted with negligence.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on March 18, 2010 (boomark / email).