Chickasaw Police Chief Keith Miller’s History of Lawsuits
Court records show former Chickasaw Police Chief Keith Miller was a party to a 2008 civil case over a 2007 crash involving a county vehicle and filed a 2014 small claims suit over damage to his car.
CHICKASAW, Ala. — The same man who once wore a badge and swore to protect this community allegedly left a citizen hospitalized with over $50,000 in medical bills after a 2007 crash—then fought tooth and nail to avoid paying a dime, according to court records. But when someone else scratched his car for $600, Keith Miller didn’t hesitate to drag that person into court, demanding his pound of flesh.
The double standard is breathtaking.
Court records reveal that in 2007, Miller—then a deputy with the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office—was driving a county-owned vehicle when he crashed into a citizen, causing injuries so severe the victim required hospitalization and racked up more than $50,000 in medical expenses. Instead of accepting responsibility, Miller fought the victim in court (case CV-2008-900478) and refused to pay a single cent toward the man’s medical bills.
Then, in a stunning display of hypocrisy, Miller turned around in 2014 and sued a citizen who merely bumped into his car—a minor incident resulting in a $600 claim (case SM-2014-605). The man who allegedly hospitalized a fellow citizen and stiffed him on five figures of medical debt had the gall to use the courts to squeeze $600 out of someone for a fender bender.
There is one standard for Keith Miller. And there is another standard for the rest of us.
This is the man who was entrusted with public safety. This is the man who was later appointed police chief of Chickasaw in 2022 after spending 20 years at the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. And this is the man who, less than a year into that job, was placed on administrative leave and fired by a 4-1 city council vote in July 2023.
The firing came after a three-hour executive session closed to the public, where the council weighed a mountain of evidence against him. While the city has remained tight-lipped about the specific reasons for termination, the pattern was already clear to anyone paying attention: Keith Miller believed the rules didn’t apply to him.
The 2007 crash wasn’t just an accident. It was a warning sign. A man entrusted with a county-owned vehicle—a taxpayer-funded asset—used it in a way that allegedly left a citizen seriously injured. And when the bills came due, Miller didn’t do the honorable thing. He didn’t offer to help. He didn’t take responsibility. He fought the victim in court and refused to pay.
Seven years later, Miller showed the world exactly who he is. When someone bumped into his personal vehicle—a $600 inconvenience—he sued. He used the machinery of the legal system to pursue every last penny. The man who allegedly left someone else with $50,000 in medical debt and a hospital stay had no problem weaponizing the courts when the stakes were small and personal.
Miller’s defenders might argue that the 2007 incident was an accident, a moment of inattentiveness. But accidents don’t excuse refusing to pay for the damage you caused. Accidents don’t explain why a man with a badge and a county vehicle would fight a hospitalized victim in court while simultaneously suing a stranger over $600.
This isn’t about one bad day. It’s about a character pattern. A pattern of putting himself first. A pattern of using whatever resources were available—county vehicles, the legal system, his badge—for his own benefit. And a pattern of refusing accountability when the consequences landed on someone else.
The ethics complaints that ultimately contributed to his firing—allegations of using county-owned vehicles for personal gain, of pocketing outside pay for security work, of stealing property during search warrants—fit neatly into this pattern. Miller didn’t suddenly become a man who believed he was above the law when he became Chickasaw’s police chief. That man was already there in 2007. He was there in 2014. He was there every day he wore a badge and decided the rules were for other people.
The citizens of Chickasaw deserve better. The people of Mobile County deserve better. And the man Miller allegedly hospitalized in 2007—the one still waiting for justice while Miller sued someone over $600—deserves better.
Keith Miller’s firing was not a miscarriage of justice. It was a long-overdue reckoning for a man who spent years proving that when the tables were turned, he would always fight for himself first. The only question that remains is why it took so long for anyone to hold him accountable.
