A former Douglas County deputy acted recklessly when he fired into a car at an Atlanta gas station last year and wounded a 5-year-old girl in the back seat, the child’s mother says in a new lawsuit.
In a complaint filed last week, the child’s mother alleges the sheriff’s office failed to address previous incidents involving former deputy Thomas Samples that the mother says should have raised red flags.
Aaliyah Adams’ daughter, now 6, was shot in the arm by Samples in a June 2024 incident, after a man running from police jumped into the family’s BMW at a gas pump along Fulton Industrial Boulevard, authorities said previously.
The girl’s family said there was no need for the deputy to open fire because the man he was chasing was unarmed and there were innocent people inside the car.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
The lawsuit, which names the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and Samples as defendants, outlines a history of alleged misconduct and accuses the agency of failing to address what the lawsuit describes as the former deputy’s “shoot first and ask questions later mentality.”
In his job application, for instance, Samples cited the department’s “pit and chase” policies as a reason for wanting to work there, indicating that one of his passions for law enforcement was to “apprehend fugitives fleeing from the law,” the lawsuit contends.
Prior to being hired in 2022, the lawsuit says, a background check conducted by the sheriff’s office revealed Samples had previously been accused of pointing a pistol at woman during “an apparent fit of road rage.”
And three months before shooting the child, it was recommended that Samples undergo remedial training after he reportedly used his Taser on someone and searched their home “without determining whether they had committed the crime alleged,” according to the lawsuit. The complaint also claims that less than two weeks later, in March 2024, Samples was suspended for eight hours without pay after chasing a vehicle through a red light at 129 mph.
The girl’s mother said the sheriff’s office knew Samples “engaged in police practices that put the public in harm’s way,” but failed to adequately address it.
“Had (the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office) properly trained Defendant Samples or otherwise remediated his deficient conduct, (the child) would not have been shot by a trigger-happy officer who failed to determine whether he was shooting into an occupied vehicle or placing innocent bystanders in danger,” she said.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
The child was injured June 23, 2024, after Dallas police officers tried to arrest Rashauny Mike Palmer on aggravated assault and kidnapping charges, investigators said at the time. Palmer, who attorneys say was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car, managed to escape police and drive off in his Dodge Charger.
A lookout was issued for the vehicle, which was spotted that evening in the eastbound lanes of I-20, the GBI said at the time. Palmer refused to stop for Samples and later crashed into a tractor trailer at the Fulton Industrial Boulevard exit ramp, authorities said.
He ran to a nearby BP station and tried to carjack a BMW that was occupied by the girl, the child’s mother and her husband, investigators said. That‘s when Samples fired into the car, striking the 5-year-old in the right arm, according to the lawsuit.
It contends Samples did not try to determine whether there were bystanders in the car “before pointing his firearm at the vehicle and immediately shooting into it.”
Bakari Sellers, an attorney representing the child’s family, said Monday that she still has some physical ailments stemming from the shooting but is expected to make a full physical recovery. He also said his team is working with the child’s mother to get her specialized counseling.
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
Credit: John Spink / John.Spink@ajc.com
A sheriff’s office spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying it is the agency’s policy not to make statements about ongoing litigation.
Samples voluntarily resigned from the sheriff’s office last November and now works as a part-time officer for the Whitesburg Police Department in Carroll County, state records show. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sellers said the case highlights the need for a national police database that tracks officers accused of misconduct. He also said he’s still waiting to see if criminal charges will be brought against the ex-deputy.
The GBI, which investigated the police shooting, said its findings were turned over to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office last year. A spokesman for the DA’s office said the case is still being investigated, along with other use-of-force cases involving current and former officers.
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution data specialist Jennifer Peebles contributed to this article.
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