Attorneys representing the family of a 36-year-old Black man who was killed in July during an altercation with two Mobile police officers, said on Thursday that Jawan Dallas might still be “alive today” if the allegations about Police Chief Paul Prine raised Wednesday by Mayor Sandy Stimpson are true would and had been handled earlier.
The family of Jawan Dallas, represented by a host of civil rights attorneys, filed a $36 million federal lawsuit against the City of Mobile in December over the handling of his July 2 death in Theodore. Dallas died from what prosecutors say was health complications; but the Dallas family has said he died after being struck repeatedly by police with a Taser.
“While we wait to make any final judgements until all the facts are in, the allegations made by Mayor Stimpson (Wednesday) were deeply disturbing and, if true, then we agree that Chief Prine has no place in the Mobile Police Department, much less as its chief,” the statement reads.
“Any chief who would tell his officers, ‘Don’t’ pay attention to what I say in the media, f--- the public,’ is setting a dangerous example.”
The comment continues, “If this behavior took place as alleged by the mayor, we only wish it would have come to light sooner. Then Mayor Stimpson and the city council could have taken action sooner to ensure MPD’s officers practiced what they preached in de-escalation and rebuilding public trust. If they had, Jawan Dallas might be alive today.”
Prine, during an extensive interview Wednesday with WALA-TV Fox 10, said he is “a man of faith” who does not use vulgar language. Stimpson, in his statement, alleged that during a third-party review of the agency’s policies and procedures, “it came to light that Prine made inappropriate statements early in his tenure” as police chief. Prine became chief in 2021.
The review was conducted by former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama who was in the office during the Obama Administration. Brown was tapped by Stimpson to review the policies and procedures of the police department as it relates to the use of force in November.
The probe began after 16-year-old Randall Adjessom was shot and killed by a Mobile police officer on Nov. 13, as police searched for one of his relatives. His death prompted Stimpson to immediately order most pre-dawn raids be suspended.
At the time, police were looking for 18-year-old DeAngelo Adjessom, who was not at the home when they descended on the property. DeAngelo Adjessom turned himself in to the police and was arrested on marijuana charges.
That incident capped a year in which the agency was at the center of multiple tragedies involving Black men including Dallas that led to community rallies, protests and the federal lawsuit.
The statement from the mayor reads further, “The investigators found this (vulgar remark by Prine) to have set the tone for a cultural shift from respecting everyone in our community to the use of profanity and a lack of adherence to de-escalation training taught within MPD’s training academy.”
The statement also accused Prine of having an “authoritarian leadership style.”
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson (left) said police chief Paul Prine was placed on administrative leave due to information from a independent review of the police department. Prine called the City's actions "vindictive."(File photos/AL.com)
“This is a lot of twisting of words,” Prine told Fox 10. “I cannot remember what I said yesterday sometimes. I don’t know how anyone can remember something from 2-1/2 years ago. But if the mayor wants to get rid of the Chief of Police simply because of statements made and my so-called authoritarian methods, considering that crime is at a 30-year low and attrition is down 50 percent in two years, then it has nothing to do with something I said 2-1/2 years ago.”
Prine has criticized Brown’s review of the department, saying it has the potential to cost taxpayers up to $1.5 million. The Stimpson administration says a report from Brown is expected within the next three weeks.
Prine, during his interview with the TV station, accused Chief of Staff James Barber, the city’s former police chief, of releasing Dallas’ autopsy report to a TV station. Prine said that Barber attempted to call him “to be complicit about it.”
“That is unethical and I’m embarrassed and appalled,” Prine said. “It could be criminal.”
Very little information was provided to the media during the investigation into the Dallas death, which went before a Mobile County grand jury. District Attorney Keith Blackwood, in November, found no wrongdoing on behalf of the two police officers -- who remained unnamed -- that encountered Dallas. Blackwood said Dallas died “clearly due to cardiorespiratory failure and mixed drug intoxication,” and ruled out Tasing.
The attorneys representing the Dallas family, after getting to review the police-worn body camera footage of the altercation, compared the Jawan Dallas death to that of George Floyd, the Black man whose killing in 2020 while in police custody on a Minneapolis street ignited protests across the country over police brutality and racial injustice.
The body camera footage has not been released publicly, and the media has been denied requests to view it.
Prine, also during his Fox 10 interview, accused Barber of attempting to get a “vote of no confidence” against him, saying that the Chief of Staff’s wife was texting and calling his wife “to get her worked up on this no vote of confidence.”
“That’s where I draw the line,” he said. “You don’t involve my family. How dare you do this.”
Prine, who has over 27 years of serve within the department and is on paid administrative leave, told TV stations in recent days that he submitted two grievances with Stimpson over what he claims is unethical behavior by city officials.
Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine speaks during a news conference on Monday, March 21, 2022, inside the mayor's conference room at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala. Seated next to Prine is James Barber, the chief of staff to Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).
Stimpson’s release also accuses Prine of having a breakdown in communications with the agency’s intelligence unit. Prine has said that he, as the police chief, had not monetary control nor oversight over the division, but that he was required to sign off on spending.
The chief is also raising questions about a $92,000 expenditure from the city to hire a Florida-based firm, which formed in October 2023, to conduct a review of the police department’s Operation Echo Stop -- a crime-fighting initiative started in 2022 that uses intelligence, investigative resources, and advanced technology to crackdown on gun crime.
“There was a third-party review that we paid $92,000 to see how successful Operation Echo Stop is, but no one was interviewed in my command staff,” Prine said during the TV interview. “But there was a nice written report about how Mobile police failed Operation Echo Stop. I wrote a rebuttal to that and sent it to the mayor and city attorney, and it was endorsed by the entire staff on the Mobile PD.”