DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta family hired national Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump in a case where authorities said a 5-year-old girl was hurt by a deputy's gunfire during a chase for a suspect.
Crump and Attorney Bakari Sellers, who will also represent the family, made the announcement Tuesday.
Her mother, Aaliyah Adams, told 11Alive that little Skylar was in the back seat of their BMW when they stopped for gas late Sunday night. They became victims of an attempted carjacking by a man fleeing law enforcement.
"She keep saying, 'I done got shot! I done got shot! It's the worst day of my life. They shot me," Adams said at the hospital. "She felt like the police was supposed to tell her sorry."
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), this all started after the Dallas Police Department arrested 25-year-old Roshauny Mike Palmer on charges of aggravated assault and kidnapping stemming from an incident that happened Sunday night. The GBI said Palmer was handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a patrol vehicle. However, while he was in custody, he found a way to escape the vehicle.
He then ran to his Dodge Charger and drove away, a release said. Police then released a BOLO for him and a Douglas County Sheriff's Office deputy subsequently located that car driving on I-20 East. The deputy attempted to stop him, but Palmer allegedly did not stop his car. The deputy then performed a pit maneuver on the Dodge Charger, but the GBI said Palmer continued driving until it hit a tractor-trailer and came to a stop at the bottom of the Fulton Industrial Boulevard exit ramp.
According to the GBI, Palmer then ran to a nearby BP gas station on Fulton Industrial Boulevard, where he allegedly attempted to carjack the BMW at the gas pumps.
"He came towards my car and was like, 'Give me your car! Give me your car!' So I jumped in the car, and I closed the door, and he ended up coming to the backside where she was, but she was lying down in the back seat, so as he was getting in the back seat, the police opened fire on the car," Adams said.
Surveillance video from the gas station shows Palmer running to the car, and the moment a Douglas County deputy pointed his gun. Seconds pass before bullets are fired.
"She was sleeping in the back seat, so she didn't even know she was hit until she saw me grab her in the car. I was screaming, 'They shot my baby! They shot my baby," Adams said.
Authorities took Palmer into custody; he is facing multiple charges. Skylar was taken to the hospital.
Suspect leads deputy on chase, attempts to carjack BMW in escape that ends with child being hurt in shooting: GBI
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office said in a statement the child was hit by "what appeared to be a small ricocheting fragment from the officer's rounds."
“I don’t know what action movie this deputy thought he was in, but that kind of callous disregard for basic safety gets innocent people killed in the real world,” said Crump in a news release. “Recklessness and negligence aren’t strong enough to describe what he did. He is a clear danger, and he must be held accountable.”
Crump and Sellers are calling on the sheriff's office to take action against the deputy. The sheriff's office contacted the GBI to investigate the shooting.
The attorneys' news release said that Adams and her family are cooperating with the GBI regarding the investigation; they are also looking into all avenues, including a possible civil lawsuit.