TIPPAH COUNTY, Miss. — The Sheriff in Tippah County, Mississippi said he’s asking the state to investigate a home invasion that left a man on a ventilator.
According to investigators, James Hughey broke into the home of a deputy’s ex-wife causing that deputy to beat him up, but Hughey’s family has a different story.
His father, Pete Hughey, said his son has broken ribs, a fractured face and shoulder, his brain and spleen are bleeding and is hooked up to a ventilator.
The pictures of the injuries are too graphic for television.
“I feel upset. I wouldn’t treat a dog that way,” said Pete Hughey. “I just hope he makes it.”
Pete Hughey said his son, who has a mental disability and health issues, went to visit a woman at a home on Highway 4 on Wednesday, but that woman wasn’t there. Instead, he said another woman was inside, and she didn’t know James, so she called her ex-husband, a Tippah County deputy, for help.
“He didn’t need to beat him up like that,” said Pete Hughey.
The Tippah County Sheriff’s Department admits a deputy beat up Hughey during a confrontation.
They said the deputy was off-duty and was just trying to protect his family.
They believe Hughey was drunk and broke into the home and that’s why they took him to jail.
That’s right, he went to jail with his injuries.
The sheriff says Hughey refused treatment, but the family thinks he should have been taken no matter what.
“That bad of shape and laying in a jail. They told us we couldn’t see him,” said his father.
Hours later, Hughey was transported to a local hospital and then to Memphis.
He remains in the intensive care unit at Regional Medical Center and is facing charges for a home invasion.
TCSO told WREG they asked the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation to look at the case since the department doesn’t have an internal affairs division.
The sheriff’s office said the MBI asked for paperwork and is expected to be in Ripley to being its investigation on Monday.
In the meantime, the deputy is still on the job.
The family said they tried to file assault charges against the deputy, but were told they couldn’t since the MBI is now in charge of the case.
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