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Darius Rice, a Black resident of Georgia and a military veteran, is suing Clinch County Deputy April Tinsley and her husband, Sheriff Stephen Tinsley, for his alleged wrongful arrest in April 2022. He compared his treatment to the infamous lynching of Black teen Emmett Till in 1955 in Mississippi after a white woman falsely accused the boy of making unwanted advances.
Inside his freshly filed lawsuit obtained by NewsOne, Rice claimed that he was assaulted, arrested and charged with sexual battery after Deputy Tinsley falsely accused him of groping her as he was exiting a QuickTrip gas station roughly 20 miles south of Atlanta. His girlfriend, Ashley Jackson, was also allegedly attacked during the incident.
According to the lawsuit, Rice was leaving the QuickTrip on April 7, 2022, when Deputy Tinsley aggressively pursued him, alleging he had groped her buttocks. However, surveillance footage from inside the convenience store revealed that their contact was accidental, occurring when Deputy Tinsley backed into Rice’s path. Despite this, Sheriff Tinsley immediately moved to arrest Rice and, without justification, forcefully slammed him onto the concrete, causing him to lose consciousness, the suit, filed on April 9, asserted.
Witnessing the incident, Jackson approached Sheriff and Deputy Tinsley, capturing the scene on her smartphone. In response, Deputy Tinsley confiscated Jackson’s phone, threw it into her vehicle, and attempted to arrest her.
When Jackson tried to reclaim her stolen phone, a physical altercation ensued between her and Deputy Tinsley. At no point before attempting to make the arrest did Tinsley identify herself as a Sheriff’s Deputy or display a badge, the suit stated.
Upon the arrival of additional law enforcement, Deputy Tinsley persisted in her false accusations, accusing Rice of assaulting Sheriff Tinsley. Despite clear video evidence contradicting Deputy Tinsley’s claims, Rice was arrested and charged with sexual battery.
Rice compared his arrest by the Clinch County officials to the lynching of Emmett Till.
Inside the complaint, Rice compared his arrest to the egregious death of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old teenager who was viciously lynched in Mississippi in 1955 following a similar false claim made by a white woman named Carolyn Bryant Donham. During her testimony, Donham, who died last year, alleged that Till grabbed her hand and waist and propositioned her, saying he had been with “White women before.”
Rice’s lawyers said in a press release: “This is exactly what happened to Emmett Till.”
Harry Daniels, a lawyer representing Rice and Jackson, said, “If history has taught us anything it’s that Darius Rice is lucky to be alive. For folks like this, the video proving Darius Rice’s innocence didn’t matter. His history as a decorated combat veteran didn’t matter. April Tinsley’s history as an unrepentant liar didn’t matter. The facts didn’t matter and their oaths to uphold the law didn’t matter.”
Daniels added: “They had a white woman claiming a Black man had groped her and that’s all they cared about.”
Rice and Jackson are seeking compensatory and consequential damages exceeding $10,000,000 concerning the incident.
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The post White Woman Cop Falsely Claimed Black Veteran Groped Her, Lawsuit Says: ‘Exactly What Happened To Emmett Till’ appeared first on NewsOne.
White Woman Cop Falsely Claimed Black Veteran Groped Her, Lawsuit Says: ‘Exactly What Happened To Emmett Till’
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