By Yolanda Jones
The Commercial Appeal
Clarksdale Police Chief Gregory Hoskins is suing the city of Southaven and its police department for $2.5 million, claiming he was falsely arrested on disorderly conduct charges last year.
The civil lawsuit was filed on Oct. 15 in federal court in Oxford.
The lawsuit also contends that Hoskins’ federal rights were violated and Southaven police used excessive force when he was pepper-sprayed and arrested on June 21, 2009, outside a Shell station on Goodman Road.
Hoskins, 49, was charged with four counts of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after he became involved in an argument with a clerk at the Circle K store on Goodman Road, where he stopped to get gas after a movie and dinner with his family.
In July, Hoskins was acquitted of all the charges by a six-member jury during a trial in DeSoto County Court.
This trial was an appeal to his conviction of the charges last November during a bench trial before Southaven Municipal Court Judge B.G. Perry.
In the federal suit, Hoskins claims police hid and failed to disclose video and an audio tape during his municipal bench trial.
It also claims police tampered with surveillance video from the convenience store and intimidated the store’s clerk into filing charges against Hoskins.
The lawsuit says Hoskins suffered “physical injuries, great humiliation, mental anguish, mental and emotional distress, extreme embarrassment, fear of loss of employment, damage to his personal and business reputation and standing in the community,” because of his arrest.
His attorney, Ross Webster, said Monday “that the facts are what they are, and we don’t have any further comment.”
In addition to the city of Southaven and the police department, the lawsuit also names Mayor Greg Davis, Southaven Police Chief Tom Long, Officers Keith Goff, Ben Bynum, Brent Vickers, Tommy Jones and Detective Mark Little, all involved in the investigation and arrest of Hoskins. It asks the court for a jury trial and the $2.5 million in damages or an amount the jury deems appropriate.
Copyright 2010 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.