Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Mom Claims Cops Stood by During Murder

(CN) - It took Alabama police officers nearly two hours to enter a home where an armed intruder was killing a woman, though her mother "pleaded" with them to go in and stop it, the mother claims in court.

Virginia P. Jamison sued the City of Hoover, Ala., in Jefferson County Court, for the death of her daughter, Kimberly Jamison Ozburn.

Jamison says in the lawsuit that she and her daughter were at home at 9:25 p.m. on March 19 when a man, later identified as Jimmy Lee Frizzell, burst in armed with a gun and knife.

Kimberly called 911 and told police the intruder was armed, Jamison says.

Frizzell then put a gun to Kimberly's head and pulled the trigger twice, both misfires, according to the complaint.

That gave the women the time to run to Kimberly's bedroom.

Frizzell followed them and subdued and straddled Kimberly, pointing a knife at her chest. Jamison escaped the room and placed a second call to 911. Hoover police arrived two minutes later, according to the lawsuit.

Jamison claims she immediately told the officers what was happening, and "pleaded" with them "to immediately enter the residence but they refused."

Instead, she claims, the officers called her home telephone four times, from 9:36 to 9:43 p.m., three times getting no answer and once a busy signal. Then the officers called Kimberly's cellphone twice.

Jamison says she told the officers to enter the home through the unlocked side door, but the officers insisted on trying to enter through the locked front door.

The officers never entered the home at all during the attack, Jamison says. She claims it was not until an hour and 45 minutes after the first 911 call that officers finally entered, and found Kimberly and Frizzell both dead.

Jamison seeks damages for negligence and wrongful death.

She is represented by Carl Chamblee with Chamblee & Malone, of Birmingham.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...