Requiring cops to wear body cameras while on duty is certainly a step in the right direction regarding police accountability; however, being videotaped has failed to prevent many police officers from using excessive force. This has been demonstrated countless times already,with the latest instance involving the cold-blooded murder of a 6-year-old boy with autism from Marksville, Louisiana, by two state marshals.

Two Marksville city marshals, Derrick Stafford, 32, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, were arrested after video from their body cameras showed them chasing down and opening fire on a vehicle occupied by a father and his 6-year-old son.

Credit: KATC-TV

The father, Chris Few, was severely injured and remains hospitalized. His son, Jeremy Mardis, was killed in the attack. Due to his medical condition, authorities have not told Few that his son died. Autopsy reports indicate the boy was shot five times in the head and chest and pronounced dead at the scene, reported NBC News.^[1]

Marshals opened fire on innocent man who had his hands raised in a surrendering motion

Mark Jeansonne, Few’s attorney, said video from the marshals’ body cameras showed the father raising his hands in an act of submission before officers began firing at his SUV, according to The Advocate, which also reported 18 bullets were fired by the marshals that night.

Few presented no threat to marshals on the night of the shooting, his attorney said. “This was not a threatening situation for the police.”^[2]

Stafford and Greenhouse have both been charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder and is each being held on a $1 million bond at the Avoyelles Parish jail. If they’re able to post bond, the officers will be placed on house arrest.

Greenhouse (left), Stafford (right)

The marshals said they were trying to serve a warrant on Few when they followed him into a dead end street, then he began reversing into the officer’s vehicle, prompting them to open fire, reported WDSU New Orleans.^[3]

However, state police said no such warrant existed. The officers maintain the killing of the 6-year-old special needs child was an accident, but new details emerged suggesting the reason for the chase against Few may have been personal.^[4]

Investigators are now looking into whether Greenhouse had an existing conflict with the driver of the vehicle after Few’s girlfriend alleged that the marshal came onto her, according to NBC News. ^[5]

Marshal charged with murder and attempted murder pursued inappropriate relationship with victim’s girlfriend

Megan Dixon, Few’s girlfriend, told several media outlets that Greehouse was a former high school classmate of hers and started messaging her over Facebook. He reportedly dropped by the house she shared with Few, as well.

“I told Chris, and Chris confronted him about it and told him, ‘Next time you come to my house I’m going to hurt you,’” Dixon told The Advocate.

Another individual close to Few came forward stating that Few and Dixon got into an argument outside of a pool hall on the night of the shooting. Few eventually departed the scene to pick up his son at the babysitter’s, a short time later, the chase ensued.

Marshals charged with murder have sketchy past

Evidently, Marksville has had a rocky history regarding misconduct by its police officers, according to several residents who insist the shooting and consequent death of Mardis is “indicative of ongoing problems with local law enforcement.”

“Y’all just don’t know what the hell we go through around here,” Ruby Ivory told The Advocate, reporting “a number of run-ins with Marskville authorities.”

The city’s 63-year-old mayor John Lemoine also cited problems with local authorities, stating he’s met continued opposition in reforming the city’s police department and his ability to dismiss problematic cops since his election in 2010.

“We have citizens that deserve to be served and protected by the badge. Currently, that’s not always happening,” said Lemoine.

Officer Stafford has had a long history of misconduct, including the following:

• Using a Taser unprovoked and without warning while questioning a man
• Tasering a woman handcuffed in the back of a police car
• Allegedly breaking a 15-year-old girl’s arm while wrestling her off a school bus
• Lying in court
• Falsifying a report

Stafford has five civil suits pending against him, two of which name Greenhouse as a defendant.

Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charles Riddle III recused himself from the case because Norris Greenhouse Sr. is the father of one of the accused marshals. Norris Greenhouse Sr. has been an assistant district attorney in the parish for nearly 20 years and is also the head of the officer’s major crimes unit.

Sources:

[1] NBCNews.com

[2] TheAdvocate.com

[3] WDSU.com

[4] NBCNews.com

[5] NBCNews.com