McInturff v. St. Clair County Sheriff Department et al

On October 17, 2018, deputies from the St. Clair County Sheriff Department responded to a call in Pell City, Alabama, and encountered Joseph McInturff. During the confrontation, deputies used deadly force, fatally shooting McInturff. His mother, Linda McInturff, acting as the administrator of his estate, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Sheriff Department, Sheriff Billy Murray, and unnamed deputies. The complaint alleged excessive force, unlawful seizure, failure to intervene, and wrongful death, asserting that McInturff did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm that would justify the use of lethal force. The plaintiff sought compensatory and punitive damages, claiming violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The parties reached a confidential out-of-court settlement in 2020 for an undisclosed amount, with no admission of liability by the defendants, following the court's partial denial of the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the grounds of qualified immunity.

Whether the deputies' use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances; whether Sheriff Billy Murray failed to properly train or supervise the deputies; and whether the county's policies, practices, or customs demonstrated deliberate indifference to the constitutional rights of individuals, leading to the fatal shooting.

The case intensified local and national scrutiny of police use-of-force policies and the lack of crisis intervention training for responding to individuals with mental health issues. It prompted community advocates in St. Clair County to demand the implementation of body-worn cameras and independent investigations into officer-involved shootings, contributing to the broader conversation on police accountability and reform.