Chayse Harmon died in a mass shooting in downtown Ocean Springs because authorities failed to prevent known crime in and around a city restaurant, a lawsuit says.
In addition, the lawsuit claims Ocean Springs police and Jackson County sheriff’s deputies violated the 19-year-old’s rights by thwarting an attempt to save his life by an off-duty nurse who was performing life-saving measures on Harmon after the shooting at The Scratch Kitchen.
Instead of continuing to render aid to Harmon after the May 5, 2023, shooting, the lawsuit alleges that authorities told the nurse to “stop and step back.” Afterward, authorities handcuffed Harmon.
Harmon’s mother, Kimberly Harmon, filed the wrongful death lawsuit in federal court in Gulfport against the city of Ocean Springs and Mayor Kenny Holloway, the Ocean Springs Police Department and Police Chief Ryan LaMaire, Jackson County, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and Sheriff John Ledbetter and other unnamed police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
“The nurse was providing CPR and life-saving attempts and they (police and deputies) didn’t take over and render any life-saving measures at all,” Harmon’s attorney, Eric Tiebauer, of Waynesboro, said Friday.
By failing to render aid after calling off the aid the off-duty nurse was providing the teen at the time, Tiebauer said, is a violation of the proper standards and protocols for policing.
Harmon is asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. She accuses the defendants of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent hiring, training, and supervision of Ocean Springs police and Jackson County deputies.
The defendants have not yet responded to the allegations in the civil suit. A lawsuit represents one side of a story.
The restaurant’s owner, Brittany Cruso Alexander, is not named as a defendant.
Fa’Darius Davon Williams, now 24, is accused of shooting Harmon and six others during a Cinco de Mayo party at the Scratch Kitchen that brought in more than 200 people. He remains jailed in Jackson County on one count of first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges in the shooting.
Williams fled the scene after the shooting and went to Merit Health in Biloxi for a hand injury. From there, police he went to an Alabama hospital for further treatment. Authorities later identified Williams as the shooting suspect and took him into custody in Mobile.
Ocean Springs police believe Williams was affiliated with a gang.
In the aftermath of the killing, the city of Ocean Springs successfully pushed to have the restaurant closed because of ongoing problems with overcrowding and other issues. After a hearing in Chancery Court, Judge Neil Harris ordered the restaurant closed for good.
City officials testified at the hearing that they had talked to Alexander multiple times about controlling the crowds at the restaurant and bar. In addition, police said, guns were present, and marijuana was being smoked there the night of the shooting.
The crowds were well beyond capacity the night of the mass shooting.
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Source Agencies
