Attorney Carlos Moore apologized for suing the wrong Capitol police officer at a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse downtown last week.
Grenada attorney Carlos Moore sued the Capitol Police and Capitol Police officer Mike Maldonado on December 15 for allegedly shooting his client, Sherita Harris, in the head during a traffic stop on August 14, 2022. Harris asked for $3 million in damages. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court.Moore wrongly identified Maldonado as the shooter in a December 18 press release:
The press conference took place on December 20 as scheduled. An unchastened Moore apologized to Maldonado for wrongly identifying him in the lawsuit and press release.
Harris was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Sinatra Jordan on August 14, 2022. Capitol Police arrested Jordan that day for felony fleeing, marijuana possession, and aggravated assault that took place during a traffic stop. A Hinds County grand jury indicted Jordan for felony fleeing and two counts of aggravating assault, alleging he shot at Rhinewalt and Walker.
Moore announced he filed an amended complaint that removed replaced Maldonado with Capitol Police Officers Jeffrey Walker and Michael Rhinewalt as defendants while an emotional Sherita Harris stood by his side. Moore did not thank this correspondent for doing his legal research for him.
The attorney said Rhinewalt shot his client in the head during the stop even though she committed no crime. Moore alleged a chase "ensued" after Jordan ran a stoplight, violating the Capitol Police's alleged no-pursuit policy.
Harris spent "3-4 days in the hospital."
"The city of Jackson should not feel safe as long as these two officers continue to brandish a badge and gun as Capitol Police Officers." "The Capitol Police office and these officers are a present threat to the citizens of downtown and Jackson" said Moore in response to a question from an unknown reporter. "I'm downtown now and I'm hoping I don't come in contact with the Capitol Police," said Moore.
He asked Attorney General Lynn Fitch to allow Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens to investigate and prosecute the alleged case against the Capitol Police officers. He alleged Rhinewalt was not allowed to testify during the initial appearance and preliminary hearing. "I guess they want to keep him quiet," he said. The attorney charged the transcript from the hearings were "full of lies."
The press conference became rather poignant as Harris tried to answer questions from the unknown reporter. Harris became understandably upset as she said she had no memory of the shooting nor anything else (8:30). The doctors said she was dead at one point. The woman said she is an employee at a local charter school. A sobbing Harris turned away as Moore compared her to Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor.
The attorney promised to depose both police officers. He called the claim Jordan shot at the police officers a "bold-faced lie." Moore said Rhinewalt allegedly told Walker Jordan was shooting at the police officers (11:20) as Rhinewalt allegedly shot out of the passenger window at Jordan. The lawyer claimed Walker said he did not see any shots and "had to rely on his partner to tell him somebody was shooting at him." Moore said they "did not find a gun" and only found a cellphone. One "reporter" said "they've been watching too many movies."
Moore said the misidentification of Maldonado occurred because he and Rhinewalt have the same first names. However, if Moore had bothered to check the charging documents and indictments in MEC, he would have discovered the identities of the officers involved in the shooting. Moore kept pronouncing "Maldonado" as "Maldano." He apologized to Maldonado.
The complaint is posted below. It states:
"8. Plaintiff Harris was stopped at an intersection of State and Amite waiting for the traffic signal to turn green, when Defendants Walker and Rhinewalt approached the car from the rear. Immediately thereafter, Defendant Walker activated his police cruiser’s emergency lights and commanded the vehicle to pull over on the side of the road. 9. The vehicle complied with Defendant Walker’s commands. Shortly thereafter, Defendant Rhinewalt began to shoot into the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle attempted to drive away from Defendants Walker and Rhinewalt to escape the constant firing of bullets. 10. When the driver of the Harris occupied vehicle looked over to Plaintiff Harris, the driver noticed Plaintiff Harris slumped over in the passenger seat. Plaintiff Harris had suffered a bullet wound to the head. 11. An ambulance proceeded to take Plaintiff Harris to UMMC-Jackson. Plaintiff Harris required surgery to remove bullet fragments from her head."
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Kristi Johnson.
17 comments:
Funny.... I am 58 year old man. I have never had an issue with any police officers. Oh yeah, I obey the law.
KF- you have properly named him.. He is not only a Clown but a racist dufus!!
It's amazing to me how many Mississippi police/sheriff's departments still don't have bodycams. They can prove guilt or innocence. Leaving it up to 12 folks on a jury will be more difficult in the future as they keep reading and watching cop videos. I'm not on anyone's side here, but bodycam footage would leave no doubt about what happened.
DPS doesn't believe in body cameras. Troopers have told them hell no. Wonder why?
Guess the gangs are providing financial support for Chokwe to battle the Capital Po-lice.
Police, in general, don’t want body cams. They can get away with things. Criminal defense attorneys, in general, don’t want body cams. Their clients can get away with things. Ambulance chasers like Carlos, in general, don’t want body cameras. They can makeup causes of actions.
Why doesn't the lawsuit name the person driving the car that fled?
Damages to the victim should come from the driver.
The drivers' actions led to resulting consequences.
This will be interesting. Sources tell me that this shoot was not a good one.
First mistake Carlos has ever made.
2:00 you are 100% correct . Carlos Never mentions the driver fire shots at police First! Check he Mayors bank accounts. Follow the$$
@December 27, 2023 at 1:15 PM
Incorrect, sir. Most officers DO want bodycams as they have time and again shown allegations against them to be false. The officers that don't want them are the ones that need to go.
The reason no side really wants video is because the video doesn't always tell the whole story. Sometimes it is an illusion based on a belief that is instilled in you. Doug Henning said something like that one time, and he was talking about magic. That's why.
Now, as me being a BOOMER, I was taught civil obedience, to be respectful to Law Enforcement, take my hat off when I enter an establishment, don’t wear a cap or hat at the table, respect your elders, and whatever you do, do not break the law. Respect the law and your life will be so much better. If you are raised opposite of this your life will either be miserable or hastily shortened. The problem is our law enforcement shouldn’t have to be dealing with a culture of disrespect for the law of the land or respect for humanity and, for that case, Moore shouldn’t be profiting from any of this but we all know what type of person he is. It leads one to wonder how he raises his children. If, he does. There are black men that actually have definitive impact in their children’s lives but Carlos may be one of those that leads his kids into believing that he can get them out of any kind of trouble. Now, how can you represent someone and rear children in the way you are intended, and defend a known law breaker. How will your kids view you? Carlos are you seeing this?
There's another article in the NYT this morning about Mississippi's deplorable lack of investigation and prosecution for law enforcement criminal violations of persons in police custody. The article actually suggests that the Attorney General - yep, her - should investigate and prosecute the abusers. Yeah, when pigs fly.
I see that Moore wants the AG to allow the DA to investigate and prosecute cases of this kind. Apparently Moore does not know or understand that the AG in this State has no supervisory authority over DAs. Minor point, I know, but it is just another thing that demonstrates what a buffoon that individual is. But apparently proud of his buffoonery.
Let's just say Rhinewalt has a rather interesting rep in the law enforcement community.
Maldonado has had plenty of pain and anguish. I guess Dennis Sweet will represent Maldonado.
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