Click here for daily updates on crimes committed by police: http://www.policemisconduct.net/ Click here for daily updates on people killed by police: http://killedbypolice.net/ SANFORD — A federal court judge approved a temporary restraining order this week against members of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in connection with a 2009 lawsuit, which alleges excessive force by multiple deputies. Lee County resident Steven Wayne Thomas sued the sheriff’s office for $5 million in 2009 after an incident in which he alleged deputies used excessive force by punching him and repeatedly shocking him with a stun gun after he was handcuffed on the ground. That case is set to go to trial June 2. Clayton resident Robert Terry Wade III, 71, stated in an affidavit that he was trying to serve subpoenas to appear at the upcoming trial to Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter and a number of deputies about two weeks ago. It was unclear from the affidavit whether the incident occurred May 12 or May 13. Wade said he attempted to serve Carter at Carter’s residence, and that Carter yelled at him, prevented him from leaving and called deputies to arrest him. “I tried to leave,” Wade said in his affidavit, “but Sheriff Carter came and positioned himself behind my truck and blocked me in so that it was impossible for me to leave without coming into contact with him.” The Lee County Sheriff’s Office charged Wade with trespassing and carrying a concealed weapon on May 12. According to Wade, he notified deputies of a Smith & Wesson handgun in the door of his truck. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, who is presiding over the case, issued a temporary restraining order that stated, “Sheriff Tracy Carter and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office are restrained and enjoined from interfering in any way with [Thomas’s] efforts to serve subpoenas to any witnesses in the upcoming trial.” Carter and many of the deputies originally named in the lawsuit were dropped as defendants in 2013, but Thomas’s attorney, Kieran J. Shanahan, argued that if subpoenas were not served, there was no way “to ensure the appearance of several key eyewitnesses at trial.” Lee County Attorney Kerry Schmid and Brad Wood, who is representing the sheriff’s office, declined to comment on the order or any other matters related to the upcoming trial. Carter also declined to comment, as did Macks Pickett Investigative Services Inc., the company that contracted Wade to deliver the subpoenas. The original lawsuit stemmed from an incident on April 27, 2009, in which deputies responded to call regarding property damage at the intersection of St. Andrews Church and Meadowview roads. Deputies reported that Thomas was at the scene and acting erratically, and failed to comply with orders from deputies. According to court documents, it later was discovered that Thomas had been exposed to herbicides and insecticides that he had been using to spray tobacco plants at his nearby farm. Thomas alleged that deputies subdued him and then continued to shock him with a stun gun and punch him while he was on the ground. He also alleged that he suffered a fractured jaw and significant damage to the root of a tooth as a result of the incident. The June 2 trial is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. at the U.S. District Courthouse in Elizabeth City.

• published: 25 May 2015
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