Sheriff Jolley added to lawsuit over Columbus teen’s death in custody

Attorneys for the family of a Columbus teen killed in 2015 as four Harris County deputies arrested him after a police chase have added Sheriff Mike Jolley to their lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed by the parents of slain teen Nicholas Tanner Dyksma initially named as defendants Sgt. Joe Harmon, Deputy Thomas Pierson, Deputy Heath Dawson, and Deputy William Sturdevant.

The civil rights suit seeks a jury trial and unspecified compensation plus possible punitive damages. It follows the disclosure of a dashboard camera video showing deputies pulling Dyksma from his Toyota pickup and placing him face-down on the ground, with Pierson apparently placing his knee on the back of the teen’s neck as they handcuff the suspect.

The arrest on Aug. 31, 2015, followed a Columbus police officer’s chasing Dyksma north on Veterans Parkway after finding the teen asleep in his truck about 1:45 a.m. in the parking lot of the Circle K at 2536 Airport Thruway. Dyksma drove off without speaking to the officer, who tried to stop him to see if he was impaired.

An autopsy report later said Dyksma had “acute methamphetamine intoxication,” but listed his manner of death as homicide.

Chase and capture

Authorities said the fleeing 18-year-old Northside High School graduate reached speeds up to 85 mph as he crossed into Harris County on U.S. 27, where deputies deployed spiked strips to blow the truck tires. The truck ran off the road’s left side, and deputies broke out the windows, Tased the teenager and dragged him out.

That was at 2:13 a.m., according to the dashboard camera’s time stamp. Two minutes later, the deputies saw that Dyksma was limp and unresponsive. Having learned the suspect’s name from the truck’s registration, they began shouting at him to wake up.

At 2:17 a.m., the deputies thought they saw Dyksma respond, but three minutes later, they could detect no pulse. They moved him to flat ground and started compressing his chest at 2:23 a.m., according to the video.

“It was not until the ambulance arrived some ten minutes later that Defendants made any attempt to perform CPR on Nicholas, and by then it was too late to revive him,” says the lawsuit, which alleges deputies asphyxiated Dyksma by putting too much pressure on his back and neck while he was face-down.

Their conduct was “willful and wanton and with reckless disregard” for Dyksma’s life, and they caused his death either by participating in the fatal compression or “by standing idly by” and not interceding, the lawsuit alleges.

As Dyksma posed no threat, they used more force than necessary to subdue him and continued to use that force after he was subdued, says the suit, which claims this constituted unreasonable seizure of his person in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Reasonable officers in 2015 should have known that the force was unnecessary and that they had a duty to intercede, as court precedent holds that “an officer who is present at the scene and who fails to take reasonable steps to protect the victim of another officer’s use of excessive force can be held liable for his nonfeasance,” the suit says.

Adding the sheriff

Parents Greg and Tammy Dyksma are represented by Craig T. Jones of The Orlando Firm in Decatur, Ga.

Jones via email wrote the lawsuit was amended to add Jolley after attorneys saw a news report in which Jolley on camera said he watched the video and decided his deputies followed procedure:

“Preliminarily, after interviewing all the deputies on the scene, and after looking at the footage of the vehicle cameras that we have, it appears that all our policies were followed,” Jolley told local ABC affiliate WTVM.

The amended lawsuit reads:

“After a careful review of the video, Sheriff Jolley made a public statement to the news media that the deputies involved … were following his policies when they engaged in the actions shown on the video. In addition to his express admission that the Defendant deputies were following his policy when they killed Dyksma, Sheriff Jolley’s conduct in approving their conduct without criticism and failing to discipline or retrain them further supports the conclusion that the deputies acted in accordance with his policy.”

As the sheriff and his deputies violated the Fourth Amendment, they are entitled to no qualified immunity for performing their official duties as agents of the state, the suit claims.

Asked why he filed suit against the individuals involved instead of the county, Jones wrote:

“Under the federal civil rights act, you have to sue the individual officers – you can’t sue the county, but their insurance covers the officers. We have added the sheriff as well because of his public statements that the officers were following his policy when they did what they did.”

Harris County has insurance to defend against such lawsuits, and though the defendants are sued individually, the county will defend them, as they were acting on its behalf.

Jolley referred media inquiries to county contract attorney John Taylor of the LaGrange firm Lewis, Taylor & Todd. Taylor said Terry Williams of Williams, Morris & Waymire in Buford, Ga., will defend the sheriff and deputies. Williams specializes in government lawsuits, including civil rights claims.

Williams so far has not responded to a request for comment.

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Sheriff Jolley added to lawsuit over Columbus teen’s death in custody."