$1 million lawsuit filed by man allegedly beaten by Mississippi police officers

WATER VALLEY, Miss. — A Mississippi man has filed a $1 million lawsuit after claiming Water Valley police officers beat him without cause during a traffic stop.

Attorneys for David Logan released a photo of him bloodied and bruised in a jail cell in Yalobusha County on July 18. He was taken to Regional One Hospital for his injuries.

He said he was asked to get out of his car at a roadblock and was beaten with flashlights by police officers and deputies, who he said assumed he would run away.

A rally in support of Logan was hosted in Water Valley, where the incident occurred, on Monday. Logan was in attendance and in tears, along with his father.

“We could’ve been burying him, and thank God we’re not, but it still hurts, and I’m not the only one who feels that way,” father Wesley Logan said.

The lawsuit was filed against the county, the city and several police officers and deputies.

“Enough is enough. It is time that black men be given the benefit of the doubt, just like white men,” his attorney Carlos Moore said.

Logan has been charged with driving on a suspended license, resisting arrest and simple assault.

In a separate interview Monday, Yalobusha County Sheriff Lance Humphreys said the officers are white but disputed the rest of Moore’s account.

“That’s not even close to what happened,” Humphreys told The Associated Press.

Humphreys said officers from the sheriff’s department, the Water Valley Police Department and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics were checking driver’s licenses at a roadblock when they pulled over Logan. The sheriff said officers told him that Logan got out of the vehicle and ran toward them twice.

“He lowered his shoulder and tried to go through them,” Humphreys said.

He said the officers used a stun gun on Logan and arrested him but didn’t beat him. One officer whose knee was injured during the confrontation is now working desk duties and will have to have surgery, and another officer receive injuries to leg ligaments.

Humphreys said Logan is charged with possession of the controlled substance ecstasy, two counts of assault on an officer, one count of resisting arrest and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. He said because Logan was hospitalized, he did not have to post bond.

None of the officers involved has been placed on leave, Humphreys said. He said a grand jury will consider whether to indict Logan.

This story has been updated to correct Wesley Logan’s name and correctly attribute a quote.