Cop Accused of Killing Teen Without Cause

(CN) - A deputy sheriff in Kentucky shot and killed a 19-year-old woman without provocation as she was leaving a party, the teen's mother claims.

Brandi Stewart describes her daughter Samantha Ramsey as a responsible young woman who was working at a daycare center while pursuing a college degree in education.

In a wrongful death suit filed in the Covington, Ky. Federal Court, Stewart says she last saw her daughter in the early evening of April 25, 2014, when Ramsey had dinner with her grandmother before leaving to socialize with friends.

Those friends -- Chelsey Pendleton, Boby Turner and Tevin Harmon -- are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, Ramsey and her friends piled into her Suburu sedan and decided, in light of the mild spring weather, to attend a field party on the banks of the Ohio River in Boone County, Ky.

Ramsey's friends say they were leaving the party shortly after 2 a.m., when they encountered Boone County Sheriff's Deputy Tyler Brockman, who parked on a road near the field, partially blocking those attempting to leave.

They say Brockman "exited his vehicle and activated the police cruiser's emergency lights and headlights" and as a line of cars backed up on the road, he shined a flashlight into the first car he approached and asked the driver if he'd been drinking.

When the driver said he hadn't been, Brockman allegedly responded "Then get the fuck out of here," before then approaching the car being driven by Ramsey.

"Defendant Deputy Brockman approached her vehicle on foot from the driver side as Ms. Ramsey was slowly exiting a field where many people had attended a party. Without any warning to Ms. Ramsey or her passengers defendant Brockman jumped onto the hood of Ms. Ramsey's car and demanded that she stop the vehicle," the complaint states. "As Ms. Ramsey was stopping the car defendant Brockman fired his weapon four times through the windshield. He killed Ms. Ramsey and terrorized her three passengers."

Ramsey was conscious for a short time after the shooting but died later that morning from her injuries, the complaint says. The three plaintiffs that were in the vehicle allege they were held at gunpoint by Brockman and another deputy after they exited the vehicle.

The lawsuit claims Boone County and Sheriff Michael Helmig neither disciplined Brockman, nor conducted "a meaningful investigation."

The plaintiffs also allege that Brockman had a history of illegal sale and use of drugs and took anxiety medication while on duty.

Boone County Sheriff's Department spokesman Tom Scheben told Courthouse News that the department does not comment on pending litigation.

The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages. They are represented by Alphonse Gerhardstein of Gerhardstein & Branch in Cincinnati.

Gerhardstein said in a news release Wednesday that Ramsey's death could have been prevented. "This deputy was not indicted or disciplined. He was wrong to jump onto the car; wrong to shoot while Samantha was slowing down; and wrong to shoot at this young lady at all before he jumped back off the hood," the attorney said. "Samantha's shooting and death was completely unnecessary and avoidable."

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