A federal civil trial from a lawsuit against the City of Jasper and others is scheduled to get underway on Monday in the Jack Brooks Federal Building in Beaumont. Francis Earline Sims, the mother of Steven Mitchell Qualls, filed the lawsuit after Qualls was found dead in a jail cell at police headquarters on January 30th, 2019.
Qualls, who was 28 at the time of his death, had been arrested by Jasper Police two days prior on a charge of Public Intoxication. A press release from the Jasper Police Department said that he was taken into custody after refusing to leave Jasper Memorial Hospital.
Following Qualls’ death, the Jasper Police Department discontinued use of the city jail in February of 2022, and since that time all arrestees have been incarcerated in the Jasper County Jail.
The plaintiff, represented by Dallas attorney Dean Malone, filed suit against the City of Jasper, along with Police Officers Toderick Griffin, Sterling Linebaugh, and Josh Hadnot, and Communications Officer Heather O’Dell.