Editor’s Note: This story describes and contains images of graphic violence.
The last words Damien Cameron said to his mother, Monica Lee Cameron, were “I can’t breathe” and “Mama, I love you.”
On July 26, 2021, Rankin County Sheriff Deputy Hunter Elward arrived at the Cameron residence in Braxton, Miss., after a neighbor’s sister made a 911 call claiming Damien Cameron was drunk and punching holes into the neighbor’s wall, the Justice 4 Damien website says. There was no evidence of damage, but Elward continued to arrest him without probable cause or a warrant, the family says.
Monica Lee Cameron said at a press conference in Jackson on June 22, 2023, that she witnessed the deputy chase her son through the woods and around the family’s house while threatening and tasing him several times. She said Elward followed Damien Cameron into the house, tased him, wrested him down to the floor and dragged him outside.
The mother alleges that Elward punched her son and rolled him over before kneeling on his neck and back for about 20 minutes until Deputy Luke Stickman arrived. Stickman also kneeled on Damien Cameron’s back before they handcuffed him and brought him to his family’s front porch, she alleges.
Monica Lee Cameron said her son pleaded with the deputies and said, “I can’t breathe.”
Her Son Was Barely Breathing
A Mississippi Bureau of Investigations report on July 25, 2022, cites an interview with Elward, saying the deputy “attempted to arrest Damien Cameron when Cameron fled behind the house,” and that they wrestled on the ground. The deputy tasered him as he ran inside the home and they wrestled on the floor of a bedroom, the report says. Then Stickman arrived and “assisted handcuffing (Damien) Cameron,” and the deputies walked him to the police car and placed him inside, the report continues.
The report does not mention the officers kneeling on Damien Cameron’s neck.
“Elward returned to his patrol unit and found (Damien) Cameron unresponsive,” the report says, adding that the deputies performed CPR on him and called paramedics.
