Miss. Deputy Indicted in Shooting at Narcotics Office

Nov. 17, 2012
A Jackson County grand jury has indicted the former commander of the Narcotics Task Force on a charge of misdemeanor simple assault in a July shooting that occurred at the task force's Pascagoula office.

Nov. 17--PASCAGOULA -- A Jackson County grand jury has indicted the former commander of the Narcotics Task Force on a charge of misdemeanor simple assault in a July shooting that occurred at the task force's Pascagoula office.

Sgt. Jackie Trussell turned himself in Friday at the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. He was released on a $1,000 bail, according to a press release from Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd.

He was relieved of his duties without pay in accordance to the department's standard operating procedures, according to Byrd.

Previously, Byrd had said he had been "told by an MBI investigator that there was no criminal wrongdoing whatsoever."

In investigative reports obtained by the Sun Herald, Trussell, then commander of the task force, wrote he "drew my pistol and shot a round in the floor" at the feet of another agent who "poked" at him with a syringe.

In a second, supplemental report, written in September, when an independent investigation was started, Trussell described how task force members administered medical treatment to Deputy Chad Powell in the task force office, first administering lidocaine and then stitching a cut on his left shin Trussell said resulted from concrete fragments when the bullet struck the floor.

Trusell wrote the Sept. 6 report about the time Moss Point Police Chief Keith Davis called for an independent investigation of the shooting, which MBI handled at the request of the sheriff.

In the documents, Trussell said Powell poked a syringe at him several times.

"I am deathly afraid of needles and I told Agent Powell don't get around me with the needle," Trussell wrote. "Agent Powell poked at me the second time and I told him that I would hurt him if he poked at me again with the needle. The third time he poked at me with the needle, he was close to me and the left side of my body got cold and numb and I drew my pistol and shot a round in the floor by his feet and I told him to get the (expletive) needle away from me."

The report said Powell told Trussell he was OK and did not require professional medical treatment. Trussell said he and another deputy assigned to the task force at the time, Sgt. Shawn Kimmerly, treated the wound.

Right after the shooting, Trussell wrote he called Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agent Todd McGehee, who at the time was assigned to work at the FBI Safe Streets Task Force. Trussell said he asked McGehee to bring a first aid kit from his truck to the task force office. But when McGehee got there, he learned a suture kit was needed.

Trussell said he recovered the needle Powell had thrown against the conference room wall after Powell was injured and threw it in the "hazardous materials sharps bin."

No evidence was collected, the report said.

Copyright 2012 - The Sun Herald

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