Officer Charged With Murder of Perkins During Repossession

Officer Charged with Murder of Perkins During Repossession

Morgan County, AL – Following a Grand Jury indictment for murder, 23-year-old Decatur police officer Mac Bailey Marquette can be seen smirking in his mugshot before being released on a $30,000 bond. He stands accused of the intentional killing of borrower, Steve Perkins on December 29^th.

Following months of investigations by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) into the events that lead to the deadly officer-involved shooting, they finally presented their finding to the District Attorney’s office two weeks ago. They found that Marquette was the only officer that fired his weapon and stands accused of the charge of murder.

Morgan County DA Scott Anderson announced the indictment during a news conference last Friday and said, “the job now falls to me and my office to prosecute this case and seek justice.” Further adding, “It’s not easy for me to be in the position of prosecuting an officer, but in this circumstance, it’s the right thing to do,”.

According to the DA, four officers were present at the scene of the repossession on the night that Perkins was killed, but only one fired his weapon. Anderson stated that the grand jury cleared the other three officers of wrongdoing, and that he agrees with that decision. The city had previously fired three of the four officers for violating department policy and the fourth was suspended.

The named police officers involved were, Bailey Marquette, Christopher Mukkadam, Joey Williams and Vance Summers. Court records did not indicate if Marquette has an attorney.

The Shooting

As previously reported, 39-year-old father and borrower Stephen Perkins, was gunned down by officers from the Decatur Police Department outside his home on September 29 in Decatur, Alabama. Police claimed that a repossessor, later identified as employed by All Star Recovery, had previously attempted to repossess Perkins truck when it is alleged that Perkins pulled a gun on him. This resulted in the agent calling 911.

While police have yet to release police bodycam footage of the incident, video surveillance cameras captured from neighbors captured the moment Perkins was gunned down. A total of eighteen rounds were fired at him.

Video was also captured showing an agent from Allstar Recovery towing away Perkins truck as he laid dying just feet away. He begins leaving the scene after about 30 seconds into the video while officers can be seen still patting the dying Perkins on the ground behind him. Perkins’ final words were said to be ‘help.’

The video footage had triggered renewed outrage in Decatur at both the police department for allowing the repossession to commence and at All Star recovery whom local activist claim was a needless death.

In the video, at Decatur officers can be seen standing over the body of Perkins in his front lawn after gunning him down. At the same time, the repossession agent can be seen towing away Perkins’ white GMC Sierra.

The Decatur Police only made things worse when they admitted to reporting a crucial piece of their original allegations that Perkins had been told to drop a gun that he’d been holding but had refused to follow the orders to do so.

Decator Police Chief, Todd Pinion later said Perkins had been ordered to ‘get on the ground’ by officers who’d identified themselves as police. Video evidence showed that officers opened fire before the final order was given when Perkins pointed his flashlight reportedly attached to his pistol. The omission of this critical detail created a firestorm of outrage and suspicion by neighbors and the community.

The Aftermath

The city of Decatur became a flashpoint for protests and demands of immediate action. One such demand was for a law to be created making it illegal to repossess after dark. But the first solid action taken was from the Perkins family themselves.

On December 12^th of 2023, The Stephen Perkins’ families attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Decatur and the involved officers over the police shooting of borrower, Stephen Perkins on September 29. Named in the wrongful death claims are one of the largest credit unions in the nation, the repossession agency and the two agents allegedly involved.

The Perkins families’ attorneys released their court filing to the local press which reports numerous claims against the defendants. Reported in the lawsuit are unfair debt collection claims.

Named in the lawsuit are the Lender, Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed), America’s second-largest federal credit union, serving over 2.9 million members worldwide with $35.4 billion in assets as of November 1, 2023, according to their website.

Allstar Recovery and the named repossessors involved in the incident were named as Caleb Combs and Richie Brady.

The Perkins family attorney’s lawsuit goes on to argue that the tow truck driver, identified as Caleb Combs, should have known he “lacked legal authority” to repossess Perkins’s truck. It contends that after Perkins objected to Combs’ attempt to repossess the truck, Combs left.

Decatur Police were called, and the officers responded to the scene of the where the shooting later occurred. The lawsuit then claims that the four officers “entered into an agreement” with Combs and Richie Brady to return to Perkins’ home and repossess the truck.

The attorneys claims include allegations that the City of Decatur violated Perkins’ civil rights claiming that Decatur maintains a policy and practice of rewarding officers who “engaged in more invasive citizen interactions” with better pay, promotions and assignments.

“The effect of Defendant City of Decatur, Alabama’s policy, practice, or custom, was to encourage their police officers to escalate officers’ use of force during citizen interactions,” the lawsuit states. “A further effect of this policy, procedure, or custom was to promote the use of excessive and unconstitutional force against citizens during arrests and other citizen interactions.”

The Perkins’ family attorneys did not name a specific amount that the family is seeking saying; “There is no numerical amount that will do justice for the family,” Attorney Lee Merritt said. “We do intend to pursue an outcome that will be crippling to the City of Decatur.”

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