Court clerk chases and pepper sprays woman who fled hearing in Mississippi, feds say
.jpeg "A former Simpson County court clerk was sentenced after pepper spraying a woman who fled her child custody hearing in Mississippi, federal officials say.")
A former court clerk chased after a woman who fled during a child custody hearing and then pepper-sprayed her in Mississippi, federal officials say.
The man, who was a longtime chancery clerk of Simpson County, pepper sprayed the woman multiple times as deputies walked her back to the courthouse in handcuffs in April 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Tommy Joe Harvey, 74, has now been sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to depriving the woman of her civil rights under color of law in February, the attorney’s office said in a June 17 news release. He also must pay a $5,000 fine.
The pepper spray caused “bodily injury” to the woman, according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
An attorney for Harvey, Wesley Broadhead, told McClatchy News in a statement that his client pleaded “guilty to a misdemeanor crime” and that “the court found him to be a very well respected person of the community” and “said he simply lost his temper.”
“He was trying to maintain decorum at the courthouse on a late Friday afternoon when there was no security at the courthouse,“ Broadhead said and added that his client’s actions came after the ”the judge ordered that she be returned to the courtroom.”
On April 28, 2017, the woman arrived at Simpson County Chancery Court for the “emergency hearing,” which took place in youth court, court documents state. During the hearing, she “appeared to be hysterical” and fled the courthouse, officials said.
A court official phoned the local sheriff’s department, and Harvey followed her outside to her car, according to prosecutors. Then, he asked an employee “to bring him a can of pepper spray from inside his office,” officials said.
While outside, Harvey saw the woman “fighting with a man” as she tried getting in the car, court documents state.
Harvey warned he would use the spray if she tried to get away, the release said.
Afterward, sheriff’s deputies arrived and handcuffed the woman upon Harvey’s orders, according to prosecutors. While she was in handcuffs, he continued pepper spraying her, officials said.
The FBI began investigating Harvey in 2017 following an anonymous complaint about his alleged actions, court documents state. The agency arrested him a year later.
“Mr. Harvey was not trained in the proper use of pepper spray and did not have the requisite experience to deal with such situations,” a sentencing memorandum states. “As soon as the sheriff’s deputies arrived, he should have immediately turned the situation over to them. Not doing so, caused harm to himself and (the woman).”
A grand jury charged Harvey with “depriving (the woman) of her right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from unreasonable seizures, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force,” according to a superseding indictment.
Harvey was employed as Simpson County’s chancery clerk from 2004 through May 31, 2022, the news release said.
Simpson County is roughly 38 miles south of Jackson.
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Court clerk chases and pepper sprays woman who fled hearing in Mississippi, feds say."
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