Black man sues city after alleged Taser incident, claims officials soft on police misconduct

Maurice Jackson Sr. has never been afraid of the police before.

But when a pair of officers knocked on his door late Monday night, he was scared -- because his son had just filed a lawsuit against the city of Chattanooga a few hours before.

In the lawsuit, Deonte Jackson, a 21-year-old black man, alleges that a white police officer racially profiled him, followed him home and pointed a Taser at him in November 2013. The officer was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. The lawsuit argues that the city has a pattern of overlooking the misconduct of officers and civilian employees and that the city's history has created an environment that allowed the officer to think misconduct would not be punished.

So when a pair of officers -- one white, one black -- knocked on his door around 11:30 p.m. Monday night, Maurice Jackson, Deonte's father, was worried.

"It's an uncomfortable feeling, being scared when the police come to your house," Maurice Jackson said.

On Tuesday, police said the officers were at the wrong house. Police said the dispatch log shows that a neighbor had called for police about 15 minutes before -- she said her husband was drunk and about to leave the house to go fight another man -- and the officers' GPS took them to Jackson's house, a brick home in a spacious subdivision near Hamilton Place mall.

There were no numbers on his mailbox, so the officers approached Jackson's house. Jackson said the officers were poking around the house with flashlights and eventually knocked on the door. After a brief conversation, the officers realized it was the wrong house and left.

Police say the interaction was completely unrelated to the lawsuit filed earlier that day.

"The officers don't even know about the lawsuit," said Kyle Miller, communications coordinator at CPD. "In no way, shape or form was this related to the lawsuit."

Jackson said he's still on edge. The original incident with police also happened in his driveway -- on Nov. 28, 2013. That's when Deonte Jackson made a trip to Taco Bell at about 1 a.m.

On the drive back, Officer Joseph Sabba pulled behind the car and began to follow it. The officer did not turn on his siren or blue lights and instead followed Deonte Jackson for about a mile, until Jackson pulled into his parents' driveway.

When Deonte got out of his car, the officer did as well. Deonte told police that he walked directly to his front door without saying anything -- his keys in one hand, a Taco Bell bag in the other -- and then the officer told him to stop. But the officer said that Deonte was angry and combative, waving his arms and telling Sabba to leave.

At some point during the confrontation -- both sides say it happened at different times -- Sabba pulled his Taser and pointed it toward Deonte, who said he saw the red dot of the weapon's laser sight on his chest.

Thinking it was a gun, he put his hands up.

Deonte then complied with Sabba's orders and the situation started to calm down, according to accounts from both men. Maurice Jackson came out of the house to confront Sabba -- Sabba says that's part of the reason he pulled his Taser. But Deonte says his father came out of the house after the Taser was pulled.

Sabba's supervisor responded to the scene and Maurice Jackson told him he wanted to file a complaint, saying his son had done nothing to invite police attention.

Within days, Deonte filed a formal complaint detailing his side of the story to Internal Affairs.

Sabba told police internal affairs investigators that he followed the car because of its tinted windows. He said that one of the people registered to the car had a suspended license and he thought that Deonte might be that person. At the time, Deonte's brother was listed as having a suspended license.

But the Jacksons' attorney, Robin Flores, argues in the lawsuit that the officer did not have a legal reason to follow the car and stop Deonte.

The internal affairs investigation into the incident concluded in March that Sabba did not act improperly and that the complaint the Jacksons filed with internal affairs -- improper procedure -- was unfounded.

During the past five years, CPD's internal affairs division has investigated seven allegations of improper procedure and exonerated the officers in every case, records obtained by the Times Free Press show.

Flores argues that the city has a long history of going easy on employees and officers who misbehave on the job. He lists several cases where the city either did not fire an employee accused of misconduct, cleared the employee of misconduct or rehired an employee fired for misconduct.

One employee he mentions is Karl Fields, a major crimes detective who is accused of sexually harrassing a woman as he investigated her rape case. Internal Affairs investigated Fields in 2006 after he was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Fields initially told police he'd been carjacked. He was suspended without pay for 14 days but not fired.

"Had the City removed Fields from the police department, he would not have been in a position to use his authority to further victimize a rape victim," the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit asks that the court order the city to pay $600,000 in damages to Deonte Jackson.

Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.

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