The mother of Jared Padgett filed a $150 million federal lawsuit on April 1 against officers and the Simpson County Sheriff’s Department, alleging civil rights violations in connection with Padgett’s death after being shocked with a Taser and shot by deputies in 2023.
According to the lawsuit, officers responded to a plea for help from Padgett’s family but “proceeded to murder Jared for no apparent reason at all, other than a perverse concept of ‘law enforcement’ that is itself pure lawlessness, an exercise of brute, mortal force inflicted to needlessly kill a young man who needed medical attention.” The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Jackson and represents one side of a legal argument. Simpson County Sheriff Paul Mullins has declined to comment or release the incident report. The county attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
In September 2023, Padgett, a 34-year-old oil rig worker with an accounting degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, told his family he was hallucinating. His mother said the toxicology report showed he had used crystal meth. Family members called 911 hoping he would be taken to a hospital. When two deputies arrived at their home near Magee, they said they could not take him because he had not been charged with a crime. According to the lawsuit, when deputies ordered him to the ground, Padgett got on his knees with his hands behind his head and begged them not to shoot him but was shocked with a Taser at least 16 times in 10 minutes before running away.
Deputies pursued Padgett to a nearby church where his family lost sight of him for several minutes. According to his brother Jacob, the next time they saw him he was kneeling in the road covered in blood. A news release from the sheriff’s department said that Padgett climbed into a patrol car and drove away; he was then chased by Deputy Jason Runnels to a gas station where Runnels fatally shot him as he opened the car door holding a deputy’s rifle.
Taser logs obtained by Mississippi Today and The New York Times show deputies fired their devices 17 times during the incident. The lawsuit alleges that after being repeatedly shocked while surrendering on his knees and begging not to be shot, Padgett was left unattended in a patrol car containing an unsecured AR-15 rifle before fleeing again while dazed and bloodied.
The lawsuit also claims that Runnels was never placed on administrative leave following the shooting and references Runnels’ involvement in an earlier fatal accident as deputy in Smith County where no disciplinary action occurred. Beverly Padgett said she has repeatedly sought information about her son’s death without success: “That was my son that I love,” she told Mississippi Today. “Why did y’all do that?” She added: “Money can’t bring him back, but I want the truth exposed. I’ve got to get closure to be OK. I want to know how many times they shot my son. They told me it’s none of my business. Why is it not?”
Further details are available from Mississippi Today’s press release.
