A federal civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of the family of a University of South Alabama freshman killed by a campus police officer nearly two years earlier argues that the young man was desperately seeking assistance in his final moments, not posing a threat.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court after attorneys for the family withdrew a related case from Mobile County Circuit Court, lays out in detail what happened in the early morning hours of October 6, 2012. According to the filing, the 18-year-old had ingested a synthetic drug known as 51-i-NBOMe while at a nearby music festival earlier that night. The substance reportedly left him disoriented and overheated, prompting him to remove his clothing and wander the campus in search of help. Finding no one else nearby, he eventually made his way to the university’s police station.
The lawsuit contends that even in a confused and distressed state, the student understood he needed help and believed the police station was the place to find it. Video recordings cited in earlier proceedings show him knocking on the station door, walking away, and then returning to strike a window repeatedly before an officer came outside to confront him unarmed and naked. The officer fired his service weapon during the encounter, and the student later died from the injury.
A Mobile County grand jury previously cleared the officer of criminal charges, though the county sheriff at the time publicly questioned whether the officer had adequate time to consider non-lethal options before resorting to deadly force.
Attorneys representing the family say the shift to federal court was a strategic decision made after weighing the risks of the state court process. They argue the officer’s actions violated the student’s constitutional rights and also amount to wrongful death under state law. The complaint further alleges the officer failed to follow department policy that limits deadly force to situations where an officer’s life or another person’s life is in clear danger, noting the size difference between the two men and the availability of less lethal tools such as pepper spray.
The university and its police chief, who had been named as co-defendants in the original state lawsuit, were previously dismissed from that case after a legal challenge. Attorneys for the family say they still have not had the opportunity to formally question the officer or the chief under oath, since that process was paused during the earlier state court fight. They expect the federal case to take more than a year to resolve, saying much of the evidentiary groundwork still needs to be built from scratch.
The case remains a point of scrutiny for how campus law enforcement in Mobile handles encounters with individuals in medical or psychological distress.