Civil rights lawsuit filed in Okaloosa deputy’s killing of U.S. Airman Roger Fortson

Image via AP.

The family of a U.S. Airman who was shot by an Okaloosa Sheriff’s deputy inside his own home in 2024 filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday over his killing.

The complaint filed in a Pensacola courthouse alleges that Deputy Eddie Duran used excessive and unconstitutional deadly force when he shot Roger Fortson just seconds after the Black Senior Airman opened his apartment door on May 3, 2024. Duran identifies as Hispanic, according to his voter registration.

He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of manslaughter with a firearm.

The airman’s mother, Meka Fortson, appeared with the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, at a press conference at the Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Walton Beach to announce the wrongful death lawsuit against Duran, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden and the owner of Fortson’s apartment complex.

“I want accountability because he was 23. I want accountability because he had a life ahead of him. I want accountability because he was in his own home,” said Fortson, who wore a shirt emblazoned with an image of her son in his Air Force uniform.

“This is not policing. This is an unlawful execution,” said Crump, a civil rights lawyer who has been involved in a number of cases involving law enforcement killings of Black people, including those of Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Tyre Nichols and George Floyd.

The complaint details alleged failures by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in training and supervision and claims that staff at the apartment complex where Fortson lived provided misleading information that led to the fatal law enforcement response.

“We believe Roger’s death was a result of a pattern and practice here in Okaloosa County,” Crump added.

Attorneys for Duran, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s department and an agent for the apartment complex’s management company did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Duran came to Fortson’s door in Fort Walton Beach in response to a report of a physical fight inside an apartment. A worker there identified Fortson’s apartment as the location of a loud argument, according to Sheriff’s investigators. Fortson, who was assigned to the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, was alone at the time, talking with his girlfriend on a FaceTime video call.

Duran’s body camera video showed what happened next.

The deputy pounded at the door repeatedly and yelled, “Sheriff’s Office — open the door!” Fortson opened the door with his legally purchased gun in his right hand, pointed to the ground.

The deputy said, “Step back,” then immediately began firing. Fortson fell backward onto the floor. Only then did the deputy yell, “Drop the gun!”

Deputies had never been called to Fortson’s apartment before, 911 records show, but they had been called to a nearby unit 10 times in the previous eight months, including once for a domestic disturbance.

The fatal shooting renewed debate on police killings and race, and occurred against a wider backdrop of increased attention by the military to racial issues in its ranks.

It is highly unusual for Florida law enforcement officers to be charged for an on-duty killing. Convictions in such cases are even rarer.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.