Lawsuit filed against Memphis police after deadly pursuit
The mother of a teenager who was killed in a car crash caused by Memphis police officers during an unauthorized chase has filed a lawsuit against the Memphis Police Department.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of wrongful death and excessive force cases facing the department, including a $550 million lawsuit related to the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.
The background to the lawsuit is a car accident during a police chase in May 2023 in which a 17-year-old girl was killed and a then 14-year-old girl was seriously injured.
Two former Memphis police officers, Marquavius Williams and Ontarian Malone Jr., were charged on April 9 in connection with the crash. They face two counts of hit-and-run resulting in death, six counts of abuse of authority and four counts of hit-and-run resulting in personal injury.
Williams and Malone Jr. were not named in the lawsuit, but Marterrion Brisco – who allegedly drove the vehicle the girls were in – and Xavier Hunt – who allegedly owned the crashed vehicle – are both listed as defendants. MPD is also being sued.
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Brisco also faces criminal charges himself in connection with the accident. The 22-year-old, who was 20 at the time of the accident, has been charged with two counts of negligent homicide, four counts of negligent aggravated assault, two counts of hit and run and four counts of hit and run.
What led to the deadly chase?
Brisco was not charged with any crime that allegedly occurred before the pursuit and crash. There were no affidavits for Williams and Malone Jr., and there was no affidavit for Brisco. The lawsuit does not detail what preceded the alleged police pursuit, but does say that officers “bumped into” the rear of the car.
In documents obtained by The Commercial Appeal through a Public Records Act request from the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, a summary of the facts states that there was “no evidence or information that this vehicle was involved in any type of crime or that its driver violated any traffic laws.”
This file appeared to have been created as part of the internal investigation into the incident.
According to this, Williams was driving the car and Malone was a passenger.
“Officer Williams operated the patrol car and pursued this vehicle without activating his blue lights or siren and failed to activate his body-worn camera and/or in-car video,” the summary of facts states. “Neither the supervisor nor the dispatcher were notified and the pursued vehicle was destroyed, resulting in one fatality and several passengers being hospitalized with injuries. Neither Officer Williams nor his partner rendered aid to the vehicle’s occupants.”
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After the car was struck, according to the lawsuit, Brisco was forced to “sweep to avoid a vehicle” before crossing the center line of the road. Brisco then “could not maintain control of the car” and “crashed into a vehicle traveling westbound on Park Avenue. The defendant, Marterrion Brisco, then veered north off the road and struck a chain link fence, a metal canopy, and a brick building, causing the defendant’s vehicle to catch fire and explode.”
Jasmine Kinds, 17, died in the accident, the lawsuit says. The then 14-year-old, whose name The Commercial Appeal does not want to disclose because she is still a minor, survived the accident and suffered “second-degree burns on the right side of her body, scarring and disfigurement, and injuries all over her body.”
The lawsuit demands $1.5 million in damages, or $750,000 for each child affected by the accident, which the two men and the Memphis Police Department are to pay.
In its response to the lawsuit, the City of Memphis denied the allegations made in the complaint by the mother, Shonda White. She denied, among other things, that there was a chase and that police drove into Brisco’s car.
The city’s defense arguments include qualified immunity under the Governmental Tort Liability Act, later arguing that the lawsuit does not demonstrate “proximate cause.” Proximate cause is established by showing an actual cause, such as physical injury, that is legally sufficient to establish that someone is liable for injuries.
“The incident described in Plaintiff’s Complaint and any resulting injuries or damages were directly and proximately caused by and contributed to by the acts or omissions of other parties and/or non-parties, including but not limited to Plaintiff, Defendant Marterrion Brisco, and Defendant Xavier Hunt,” the city argued in its response. “These acts or omissions were the direct cause, legal cause, and actual cause of Plaintiff’s injuries and damages.”
