Clinton, TN – July 25, 2012 – 24 Year old Repo Man Joshua Parker then of Parker Tow and Recovery, has filed suit Monday in the Anderson County Circuit Court against the Sheriff’s Deputies of Anderson County, TN and the two deputies who allegedly beat him in July 2011.
Deputies Paul Day and Brent Buckner along with Sheriff Paul White are listed as defendants in the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified punitive damages for claims of assault and battery and false imprisonment. Parker contends that he was stopped on July 22, 2011, “without any basis under state or federal law.”
According to the lawsuit, the deputies “intentionally and unlawfully caused harmful contact and physical injury” to Parker and also “illegally seized, detained and arrested (Parker) against his will, by use of force and physical violence,”
The incident occurred in the predawn hours after a citizen called police about a suspicious vehicle in the Mountain Road area and followed Parker and his co-worker, blocking their exit from Ridenour Circle.
“As soon as he had me blocked in two police cars showed up.” Parker says he felt relieved at the sight of flashing blue lights. Then things took a turn for the worse.
Parker alleges that after the deputies arrived in separate cruisers, he walked toward them with his arms held up.
“I just said, ‘okay, I’m repo, I’m backing up.’ I thought that was going to be it, I thought I was going to turn and go to my car and next thing I know I’m getting attacked.” Not by the man who followed him. Parker claims Anderson County sheriff’s deputies delivered the beat down.
“The first officer grabbed me and threw me straight into the vehicle.” He blacked out from the impact. But it didn’t end there. “He just began hitting me in the back of the head, and my head kept on hitting the concrete. I was bleeding all over the place. I had blood all over my face.”
Bloodied, bruised and disoriented, Parker says he begged for an ambulance, but deputies seemed reluctant to call one.
Deputy Buckner’s report states Parker ignored Day’s shouted commands to stop and return to his vehicle and instead approached the Deputy in an “aggressive manner.”
Buckner claims he witnessed Parker “come in physical contact with Deputy Day requiring him to go hands on.”
“He kept hitting me and hitting me and hitting me,” reported Parker, 24, employed by a Knoxville repossession firm, Parker Towing and Recovery, owned by his brother.
Parker, who gave a Pigeon Forge address, reported that he briefly blacked out at one point during the incident Friday.
Parker was then taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center, where he was treated and released. He was booked at the Anderson County Jail for resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.
Parker and family members later went to the sheriff’s department, where Parker filed a citizen complaint over the incident.
Chief Deputy Mark Lucas stated, “It’s standard procedure for an internal affairs investigation to be conducted when such complaints are filed”
According to Chief Lucas in July 2011, there had been numerous reports of car thefts in the area where Parker was first spotted and the citizen who called police thought Parker and his companion “were breaking into cars or casing the place for burglaries.”
So what happened to the Agents letting law enforcement know they would be in the area and where was their identification? What happened to being innocent until proven guilty. Of course LE always wins!