Family sues sheriff and deputies after man’s death

The family of a man who died from a head injury he suffered while being arrested near Augusta in 2021 has sued the Richmond County sheriff and four of his deputies.

Jermaine Jones Jr., 24, ran from a traffic stop on Oct. 11, 2021, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. A week later, he died in the hospital. After his death, the Richmond sheriff’s office asked the GBI to conduct an independent investigation.

More than a year later, Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jared Williams announced that no criminal charges would be filed against the deputies involved. Williams based his decision on the GBI’s report and a concurring report from an independent medical examiner.

The case is now part of a national investigation led by The Associated Press into police encounters using “lesslethal force.”

The incident began when deputies pulled over an SUV occupied by three men, including Jones. The driver, Jones’ uncle, consented to a search of the vehicle, but Jones tried to run away as deputies looked through the SUV, according to the GBI.

Jones suffered a head injury after he was hit in the back with a Taser and then tackled by deputies while running, the GBI said. He experienced a medical emergency and his condition deteriorated on the way to jail, so he was taken to the hospital instead.

In October 2023, Jones’ family members filed a federal lawsuit suing Richmond Sheriff Richard Roundtree and four deputies. The suit, led by Jones’ mother, Keyana Gaines, claims the deputies racially profiled Jones, used unnecessary force in his arrest and negligently delayed his medical care.

The lawsuit accuses deputies of simultaneously stunning Jones with a Taser and tackling him to the ground, which follows the GBI’s description of events. But the lawsuit also claims one of the deputies punched or hit Jones in the head several times while his head was pinned to the ground.

According to the complaint, Jones’ emergency room doctor told his family it was “extremely unlikely that Mr. Jones’ fatal brain injuries were caused just by falling down after being tased, as they are much more severe than would be caused by a single fall.”