A Brantley County man has retained a lawyer a to sue a Brantley County Sheriff’s Office deputy for free speech retaliation and false arrest.
J.T. Flanders, who was charged with trespassing following a Thursday, February 26 committee meeting at the Brantley County Board of Commissions office on Allen Road, has retained the services of Attorney Roland Mumford.
Mumford has offices in Richmond Hill and Savannah. He handles Civil Rights law, Personal Injury, Employment Discrimination and Criminal Law.
“The deputy specifically told him he was under arrest,” Mumford wrote in an email exchange with The Brantley Beacon publisher Rick Head and confirmed he was retained by Flanders. “What I have seen in the videos is absolutely an arrest. Regardless, it’s a fourth amendment violation for false seizure and the second claim is false arrest. “Even if it was only a detention, it’s a false seizure or false detention claim ... it’s the same thing.”
Flanders was handcuffed by a Brantley County deputy and placed inside the back seat of a BCSO vehicle following a dispute near the end of the meeting.
The incident took place after a verbal exchange between Flanders and Commissioner Randy Davison, who was exiting the meeting. According to County Manager Joey Cason in a February 27 interview, Flanders had been asked to leave the meeting by law enforcement, came back, was asked to leave again, said he didn’t have to leave, and the officer put him in his vehicle.
“If he (Flanders) hadn’t returned, nothing would have happened,” said Cason.
The five-person committee meeting, attended by several residents, was for the purpose of developing a Land Use Ordinance for the possibility of a data center.
Sheriff Len Davis was eventually called to the scene, listened to the complaints about the situation, and released Flanders.
“Apparently people were demanding for a supervisor,” wrote Mumford. “But, he was absolutely arrested as there was nothing to investigate as the interaction was over. There was no reason for a detention.
“He was accused of trespassing. You don’t detain someone for trespassing. There are three levels of encounters with officers — consensual, detention and arrest.”
