A South Carolina man who survived being shot nine times by sheriff’s deputies alleges in a newly filed lawsuit that he was sitting in his pickup truck and talking to his mother when the officers descended on them “like cowboys from a John Wayne movie.”
Trevor Mullinax and his mother said in their lawsuit that the deputies drew their weapons and defaulted “to using deadly force, immediately, without attempting to deescalate the situation.”
Bodycam video obtained by NBC News shows the deputies with their guns out converging on the pickup and yelling “Let me see your hands” before opening fire while Mullinax’s mother, Tammy Beason, is still standing beside the truck and talking to her son through the driver’s side window.
The deputies fired 50 times at close range and when it was over the deafening roar was replaced by Beason’s piercing screams, the video shows.
“In utter shock, Plaintiff Beason dove backwards while yelling in horror as bullets from the Sheriff’s deputies hit the vehicle narrowly missing her,” the suit states.
Now, two years after the May 7, 2021, confrontation with the York County sheriff’s deputies, the mother and son are suing York County and the department for unspecified damages.
“There was a round that hit him smack dab in the middle of the back of his head,” Mullinax’s lawyer, Justin Bamberg, said Tuesday at a news conference attended by Beason. “Never seen anybody get shot in the back of the head who’s a threat to law enforcement or anybody else.”
Mullinax, who was standing beside Bamberg at the news conference, weighed in after his lawyer described how the chain of events that resulted in his being shot was precipitated by a mental health crisis.
“May is Mental Health Awareness Month,” Mullinax said. “I hate that I have to be the face of it this month. But if it helps even one single person in this world to not have to go through it me and my family have I’m OK with it.”
Beason said she’s always been supportive of law enforcement, but seeing her son get shot has shaken her faith in the police.
“Just because they are a law enforcement, they did not give them the right to do what they did,” Beason said. “And, you know, I want to be able to believe in the law enforcement and to get back my belief that they’re not going to hurt you.”
The York County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released after the news conference that it had not yet been served with the lawsuit and would not comment on the allegations until its lawyers reviewed the court papers.
But, the agency said, the four deputies involved in the shooting had been “cleared of any wrongdoing” after an investigation by the State Law Enforcement Division and that three of them are still on the job in York County.
“Mr. Mullinax chose to put these men in danger by pulling a shotgun,” Sheriff Kevin Tolson said in the statement. “These deputies responded appropriately to the threat as they were trained to do. Had Mr. Mullinax made different choices that day, deputies would not have been required to use force.”
Mullinax, 29, lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina, records show. Those same records also indicate he’s been arrested for breaking and entering and burglary and for misdemeanor domestic violence. His mother is 48 and also lives in Rock Hill.
