$70 Million Lawsuit Against Sheriff's Department

  A police chase more than two years ago ended in a deadly shooting and now a $70,000,000 lawsuit is in federal court against the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. 

   The suit claims three deputies opened fire on Tommy Jones who was running from them.  The Sheriff's Department says Jones threatened at least one deputy with a knife but a witness disputes that. Jones' family contends this has been a cover-up to protect the deputies and a witness tells us officers have intimidated him.

  The Sheriff's Department says when all the facts come out, people will see why the deputies fired that night.

  The Sheriff's Department says Deputy Debbie Short pulled Tommy Jones over on Dolly Pond Road back in May of 2007.

  He was extremely intoxicated and Chief Deputy Allen Branum says he got back in a Jeep reported stolen and pulled down a private drive off Dolly Pond Road.

   Deputies Nathan Sampley and Eston Pyle came as back-up. The officers say after he got out of the Jeep..he charged with a knife. His family says he was not armed. The attorney representing the family, Robin Flores, said, "We allege that the knife was a throwdown that somebody put the knife on the scene to justify the shooting."

   Look at the autopsy diagram. In Jones' left hand you see a cigarette depicted. That's what his family says he had.Chief Deputy Branum told us then the officers feared for their life and that the use of deadly force was justified when he threatened them with the knife.

This afternoon, Branum says this is a tragedy but he and the department stand behind these officers. Hamilton County Internal affairs cleared all three officers, who remain on the force.District Attorney Bill Cox requested a T-B-I investigation and no criminal charges were ever brought against the deputies. This happened on Kenneth Wayne Hafley's property and we discovered this afternoon he saw part of this shooting.

   Hafley says he was driving south on Dolly Pond Road after buying a pack of cigarettes at a nearby store. He first noticed the blue lights before turning onto his driveway. Hafley says he heard one gunshot, then turned up his driveway. He says he saw two officer's pull Jones off the fence from behind. Hafley says he saw the front part of Jones' body and then saw three more gunshots. The landowner described this happening in an area beside a tree next to his driveway. There is almost 20 feet of land between the driveway and fence.

    He told us he didn't see a knife but remembers Jones falling forward. The autopsy diagram shows Jones was shot in the back six times and once in the front. And the witness says something else strange happened that night with former sheriff Billy Long, who remains in prison from an unrelated federal conviction.

    Attorney Flores recounted what Hafley said in his affidavit, "He tells us that Billy Long, the night of the shooting took him to the side and offered him a job."

   District Attorney General Bill Cox says he has never heard that allegation before. Chief Branum denies any intimidation from his department and assures that did not happen. But today in federal court a judge granted permission for this suit to move forward. The next step is Hafley's deposition.