Kelvin Franklin, a 33-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant from Sunflower County, Miss., is alleging in a federal lawsuit that he was handcuffed when an Indianola Police officer pointed a gun at him, tased him repeatedly and choked him in December 2022.
The officer, Greg Capers, has been suspended from the department without pay since June after he shot 11-year-old Aderrien Murry in the chest at the boy’s home in May 2023 (an attorney for Capers said in June that he “did not mean to”). That shooting has no relation to Franklin’s case.
Click here to read Kelvin Franklin’s Aug. 28, 2023, complaint against Greg Capers, the City of Indianola and Indianola Police Chief Ronald Sampson.
Carlos Moore, the attorney who is representing Murry and his family in a civil lawsuit and in an effort to pursue criminal charges against Capers, is also representing Franklin in his case. The complaint lists Greg Capers, the City of Indianola, Police Chief Ronald Sampson and five unnamed officers identified only as “John Does 1-5” as defendants.
In an interview with the Mississippi Free Press this morning, Moore noted that the incident with Franklin occurred five months before the one with Murry, who survived after being hospitalized.
“Mr. Franklin’s case preceded Mr. Murry’s case, and so the City of Indianola had notice that Greg Capers was an ever-present threat and danger to the citizens of Indianola,” said Moore. “They knew he had a propensity to utilize excessive force. They did not punish him for what he did to Kelvin Franklin, and an 11-year-old was shot by Greg Capers several months subsequent to that.”
Neither Capers, the City of Indianola, Sampson nor the five unidentified officers have responded to the claims in the lawsuit and Moore said summonses have not yet been served but “that is in the works.” The Indianola Police Department did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
‘I Haven’t Done Anything For You To Shoot Me’
Carlos Moore said Kelvin Franklin retained him in February—before the Aderrien Murry shooting. The staff sergeant’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court
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