A 2015 Roanoke Rapids Police Department case is highlighted in a federal civil complaint against a former law enforcement officer already facing three criminal charges of unreasonable use of force.
The attorney representing Shamayah Jones, Ishmill Smith, Xavier Davis, and Dwayne Hicks in the case is also suing the town of Warrenton and its police chief for failing to supervise Mark Oakley despite knowing about his extensive history of misconduct, the complaint filed Monday says.
The four civil plaintiffs are Black people who say they were tased by Oakley eight times without lawful justification when they posed no threat, according to the document.
The Roanoke Rapids case is referenced in the section of the complaint that says the town and police department “allegedly had actual or constructive knowledge of Officer Oakley’s ‘longstanding pattern of unlawfully threatening, harassing, detaining, macing and using excessive force’ against Warrenton’s citizens, especially its Black citizens.”
In 2015, Oakley, while working as an officer with the Roanoke Rapids Police Department, slammed and tased a handcuffed detainee. Oakley resigned before the internal investigation was complete, the complaint said.
Former Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Chuck Hasty confirmed this morning that Oakley resigned before the completion of the internal investigation.
The victim in the Roanoke Rapids case was White, sources have confirmed in the past, and has since died from causes unrelated to the 2015 matter.
“Despite numerous complaints from community members and other Warrenton police officers — including a former commissioner — Chief (Goble) Lane allegedly refused to review the complaints or discipline Officer Oakley.”
Lane, according to the complaint, is accused of actively protecting Oakley, including instructing another officer to alter paperwork to shield Oakley from misconduct allegations and retaliating against two officers for reporting Oakley's behavior.
The complaint
In the civil complaint, Jones says she was tased twice with the device pressed directly into her stomach — in probe mode from point-blank range — while she was pinned in the front seat of her car and later while she was immobilized on the pavement.
Davis says he was tased three times — in the chest, leg, and at the detention center — while he was already handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.
Hicks says he was tased three times while he was pinned against his car and later while he was on his knees with his hands behind his back.
Jones and Smith say Oakley committed false arrest and malicious prosecution for fabricating the charges of speeding and resisting a public officer against them. The complaint says the charges against them were later dismissed and two separate traffic stops on Hicks were also dismissed.
The civil complaint charges that “Officer Oakley’s actions were ‘an inevitable outcome of the town’s deliberate indifference and failure to act.’”
The plaintiffs demand a jury trial and seek compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.
The town has not responded to the complaint as of this report.
Criminal Case
Meanwhile, last week court records show that Oakley has retained a private attorney in the case, which charges him with three counts of unreasonable use of force.
The office of the Federal Public Defender entered the motion to withdraw as the counsel for Oakley after he chose Joseph E. Zeszotarski Jr. to represent him.
