Mississippi appeals court revives wrongful death suit over 2021 death of Damien Cameron
JACKSON — A Mississippi Court of Appeals on Monday revived a wrongful death lawsuit against two Rankin County sheriff’s deputies and the county, ruling that disputed facts about how deputies restrained Damien Cameron must be decided by a jury.
The court voted 7-3 on May 5 to reverse summary judgment in favor of Deputies Hunter Elward and Luke Stickman, finding factual disputes about whether their use of force was excessive and whether they were entitled to qualified immunity. The court also reversed summary judgment for Rankin County on state law claims under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act.
Cameron, who was known as “Toot,” died after deputies arrested him at his home on Foote Drive in Braxton in July 2021 following a vandalism complaint. A toxicology report found methamphetamine in his system, and the state medical examiner listed the cause and manner of death as “undetermined.” His mother, Monica Lee, sued, alleging the deputies used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment and state law.
The dispute centers on what happened after Stickman arrived to help handcuff Cameron. Lee and her parents told Mississippi Bureau of Investigation agents that Stickman knelt on Cameron’s neck as he lay prone and repeatedly said he could not breathe. Stickman wrote that he knelt beside Cameron with minimal pressure on his back. Plaintiffs’ expert Dr. Shandelle Norford concluded to a reasonable degree of medical probability that Cameron died of cardiopulmonary arrest caused by neck and back compression she called “restraint associated asphyxia,” with methamphetamine as a contributing factor.
Chief Judge Virginia Carlton Barnes wrote that the conflicting accounts created questions of fact a circuit court cannot resolve at summary judgment, noting the sheriff’s department policy expressly prohibits choke holds. The majority also cited Elward’s criminal conviction for falsifying incident reports as bearing on credibility. In a partial dissent, Judge Lassitter St. Pé wrote the circuit court reached the right result, saying the undisputed evidence showed Cameron actively resisted. The case returns to Rankin County Circuit Court; the excessive force claim against the deputies will go to a jury, and the state-law claim against the county will be decided by the trial judge. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.
