DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) -- The family and attorneys of Stephen Perkins filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Decatur Tuesday.
The lawsuit was provided to News 19 by the Perkins' attorneys who said they filed it this morning.
In the lawsuit, the City of Decatur, the four officers involved, Pentagon Federal Credit Union, All Star, Recovery LLC and two men identified as agents or employees of the credit union or towing company are all named as defendants.
The lawsuit names those four officers as Bailey Marquette, Christopher Mukkadam, Joey Williams and Vance Summers. It alleges federal civil rights violations by these defendants.
It also claims the City of Decatur violated Perkins’ civil rights, arguing Decatur has 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 argues. "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 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 after Perkins objected to Combs' attempting to repossess the truck, Combs left.
It then argues that the four officers “entered into an agreement” with Combs and Richie Brady to return to Perkins’ home and repossess the truck.
Filing the lawsuit comes days after Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling fired the three officers involved and suspended another without pay.
The legal team did not name a numerical amount that the family is seeking
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