A civil rights lawsuit filed in North Carolina claims an armed white “mob,” including a sheriff’s deputy, tried to force their way into an innocent Black family’s home last year while searching for a missing girl but they had the wrong house, according to reports.
New Hanover County Sheriff’s Deputy Jordan Kita was fired last year and charged in the incident which involved 15 others, also named in the legal action filed Tuesday in Pender County Superior Court.
Pender County, which has a population of about 63,000, is about 25 miles north of Wilmington, North Carolina.
The plaintiffs, Monica and Dameon Shepard, who was 18 at the time, allege that “a mob of known and unknown white residents led by Kita attempted to forcibly enter” their home in Rocky Point on May 3, 2020.
Kita was in full uniform during the episode and carrying his service weapon, according to the complaint. His father, Timothy, was also at the scene along with a man named Austin Wood and 12 other unidentified men and women, some of whom were carrying firearms, according to Wilmington StarNews.
One man was reportedly carrying an assault weapon and another had a shotgun, The New York Times reported.
The Shepards are seeking punitive damages in excess of $25,000 for claims of trespassing, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, interference with civil rights and violation of the right to fair housing
The group had been searching for “a Black teenager who lived at the Shepards’ address because they believed he was with a relative of Kita’s who had been missing for a few hours,” the lawsuit claims.
The girl in question was 16-year-old Lekayda Kempisty, according to the Times. The group was looking for someone named Josiah.
Dameon Shepard pleaded with the scrum, saying they had the wrong address, but still they tried to break inside, reports said.
When Dameon tried to go back inside, the deputy stuck his foot in the door, refused to let him close it and demanded to come inside, the Times reported, citing a statement by family attorney Jim Lea.
The Shepards called the Pender County Sheriff’s Office for help, but deputies arrived and made no arrests.
The mother and son were left “terrified” by the experience, reports said.
Days later, Kita was fired from his job at the New Hanover County Detention Center and charged with forcible trespass, breaking and entering and willful failure to discharge duties, according to StarNews. He also faces one count of going armed to the terror of the public.
“The harm that the defendants caused our clients demonstrates that the nation’s history of racist violence against Black people, particularly the presence of armed white mobs, is still alive and well,” said attorney Jennifer Nwachukwu, in a statement from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Sheriff Alan Cutler defended the actions of responding officers who made no arrests, saying by the time they arrived the situation had deescalated and that they needed time to gather more evidence.
The lawsuit also alleges Pender County Sheriff’s Capt. B.A. Sanders paid a visit to the Shepard home later the same evening and sought to clarify what happened. At the same time a few stragglers from the earlier confrontation remained just outside when Sanders asked the mother and son to “understand that there was a missing girl,” reports said. He then left without questioning the others but returned the next day to tell the Shepards it would be “complicated to apprehend or arrest anyone who had been there the previous night,” the suit states.
Charges were filed against Kita after the Shepards filed a complaint and sent letters demanding a full investigation to District Attorney Ben David, Cutler and New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon.
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