An attorney for a man shot and killed by a Fulton officer in 2017 says Police Chief Terry Powell perjured an affidavit to dismiss charges, the latest in a civil action suit filed against the City of Fulton and several police officers in 2018.
Fulton Police Lieutenant James Buckingham shot and killed 43-year-old Charles Christopher McClure in January 2017 in downtown Fulton. WKMS previously reported police said McClure had been acting erratically, smashing windows with a knife attached to a metal pole and refused to obey orders.
Attorney Larry Forman, who represents McClure’s family in the suit, said Fulton City Chief of Police Terry Powell arrived on the scene with other officers to try and calm McClure.
Buckingham said in a police interview McClure had already smashed Powell’s windshield when he shot the first time. He said he felt McClure would have injured or killed the chief had he continued.
Forman said Powell perjured himself in an affidavit which stated windshield glass debris injured Powell’s face. He said the affidavit was offered as evidence McClure intended injury to others and justification for shooting him. Forman said McClure was mentally disturbed, having troubles at home and took his anger out on cars, but had no intent to harm people.
Powell’s affidavit states McClure swung and struck his cruiser’s windshield with a metal pole, causing the windshield to break and shards of glass to fall onto Powell’s face. He states in part, “There was no question in my mind that he was trying to kill me,” and that he went to Jackson Purchase Medical Center where he was treated for cuts to his face.
Forman said motions for summary judgment have been filed from both sides seeking a court order ruling no factual issues remain to be tried and a cause of action decided without a full trial. Forman said both motions are pending before the court to decide. He said Powell’s affidavit was submitted on the deadline for summary judgment motions, which he believes is a “clear indication” the affidavit was planned.
“In a case like this, normally the defense [attorneys] are the only ones who file but in this case because the facts are so egregious, the actions of Buckingham are so egregious, we believe that we can prevail on a motion for summary judgment and that’s why we filed our own,” he said.
Forman said the defense counsel is alleging without any formal documentation or evidence that Powell had injury to his face.
“If you actually get into the details of the medical bill you can see that Chief Powell was simply getting a routine visit and the doctor notes essentially, the code that the doctor used, Z00.00, is simply a code that says no abnormalities.”
The medical bill is dated the day of the shooting.
Forman said the reason the defense counsel needs an injured party is so the case becomes more difficult for the plaintiffs.
“We’ve requested this several times to show us the doctor’s notes...If there were injuries we would have had those notes two and a half years ago in our possession, but to this day we don’t have anything from the doctor or any nurses who triaged the chief.”
Forman said video evidence also shows that Powell had “absolutely no injuries or cuts to his face at all.”
Defense Attorney Stacey Blankenship said Powell did not commit perjury, contending “Mr. McClure tried to kill Chief Powell by slamming a post into Chief Powell’s windshield over the Chief’s head. She said the glass caused “very tiny cuts” on Powell’s face that were “so small that it is not surprising they are not noticeable in the grainy, moving body camera video…” She said he went to the hospital after the incident to request medical personnel to look at the cuts and determine if there were any small pieces of glass in them. She said medical personnel did not find any glass in the cuts.
Blankenship said Forman “initially accused Chief Powell of lying about getting medical treatment” on the day of the shooting. She said the medical bill was produced to dispute that claim.
“Nowhere on the bill does it state that the finding was ‘no abnormalities.’ It does have a code for the diagnosis but, as I am sure you know, those are not always reliable and are encoded by administrative clerks, not medical personnel,” Blankenship said. “Regardless, even if the bill did state ‘no abnormalities,’ that would not be surprising because no glass was found in the tiny cuts on Chief Powell’s face.”
Forman said while the attorneys wait for the judge to rule on the motion for summary judgement, they will in the interim file a motion for sanctions against the defense counsel. He said if both summary judgements are denied they will proceed to trial. If their motion is granted, the defense counsel will probably appeal and vice versa. There is no scenario in which both motions are granted.
“If ours gets granted and theirs not and they lose the appeal, then the case will likely get settled...and that’s pretty much where we’re at,” Forman said.
