Braxton Taylor
The mother of a 23-year-old airman shot and killed in his apartment by a Florida sheriff’s deputy last year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit a year after the incident, alleging that excessive force and other unconstitutional actions led to his death.
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, who was serving with Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, was shot and killed by Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Deputy Eddie Duran on May 3, 2024, when he was responding to a 911 call of a reported disturbance at the airman’s apartment complex. The officer shot Fortson six times after seeing he answered the door with his legally owned firearm to his side and pointed toward the floor.
“Mr. Fortson, who was lawfully in possession of a legally owned firearm and posed no threat, was killed as a result of a cascade of negligent, reckless and unconstitutional actions by both law enforcement and the apartment complex where he resided,” the lawsuit claims.
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Defendants in the suit are listed as Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden and Duran, as well as Fortson’s apartment complex and an unidentified person who worked in the building as a leasing agent who originally called in the disturbance to police, leading the deputy to the airman’s apartment. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the Northern District of Florida.
Chantimekki “Meka” Fortson, the airman’s mother, told Military.com in a phone interview on Tuesday that she was grateful for news coverage and called for accountability regarding the death of her son.
“From the time Roger started walking, he started taking accountability for his actions,” she told Military.com, recounting that her son didn’t fight back against the deputy and even asked for help while he took his last breaths after being shot. “If Roger can take accountability on his dying bed, this country should take accountability now.”
Duran, an Army veteran, was fired from his job at the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office after the shooting following an internal affairs investigation that determined his “use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable.” He was charged with manslaughter in August and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A call to a defense lawyer representing him was not immediately returned.
Tuesday’s lawsuit raises concerns about Duran’s training as a sheriff’s deputy.
“Deputy Duran’s use of deadly force — within seconds of the door being opened — was not an isolated incident or the result of a rogue actor,” the lawsuit said. “It was a foreseeable consequence of the sheriff’s inadequate and unconstitutional training practices, which failed to equip deputies with the skills and restraint necessary to assess and safely respond to ambiguous or non-threatening encounters, including non-combative encounters in civilian homes.”
Military.com was one of the first media outlets to raise questions about the circumstances of Fortson’s death after his mother and prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump said in an exclusive interview that he was home alone on a video call with someone, and there was no domestic disturbance occurring.
A review of 911 calls, police records, body camera videos and screen-recorded videos of Fortson’s last moments shared with and obtained by Military.com raised questions about the unclear and indirect information that led Duran to the airman’s apartment.
The new civil lawsuit also calls into question the “utter disregard for the safety of Mr. Fortson by directing law enforcement to his apartment based on speculation and hearsay.”
During a press conference on Tuesday afternoon announcing the lawsuit, Crump criticized the apartment complex and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department.
“This was not a tragic mistake,” Crump said during the press conference. “This was a predictable and preventable outcome of broken policing, rooted in poor training, reckless escalation and zero accountability.”
Natalie Jackson, an attorney on Crump’s legal team, said the legal action comes a little more than a year following Fortson’s death and after the culmination of gathering evidence and experts for filing the lawsuit.
After Fortson’s fatal shooting, Air Force Special Operations Command leaders paused training, allowed 200 airmen to attend and brought leaders to speak at his funeral, as well as held a town hall where troops could question the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department and other community leaders.
Meka Fortson has previously told Military.com she appreciated the “united front” from Air Force Special Operations Command troops and officers, which helped hold law enforcement accountable.
“Let our kids be here to take care of us in our old age,” Meka Fortson told Military.com. “We shouldn’t be burying our kids.”
Related: Attorney: Manslaughter Charge Will Be Filed Against Florida Deputy for Fatal Shooting of Airman Roger Fortson
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