Road rage shooting spurs civil suit; Dixon man awarded $850,000

DIXON – Two men charged with attempted murder in an apparent road rage case also are being sued by the Dixon man who says they shot at his vehicle, hitting it four times.

Kennedy L. Jackson Jr., 27, of Helena, Arkansas, and Courtney D. Gaines, 26, of Memphis, Tennessee, were charged Sept. 3, 2019 with attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm, and indicted Sept. 20 in Lee County Court on those same charges.

The two men were employees of Inmate Services Corp., a West Memphis, Arkansas interstate inmate transport company, when investigators say they shot at a Dodge Caravan driven by David L. Brockman.

Lee County Circuit Court Judge Douglas Lee, presiding over the civil suit, found the company liable in the shooting on Nov. 17, 2020, and that Dec. 29 ordered it to pay Brockman $850,000 – $50,000 for counseling and the rest for emotional damages.

It was a default judgment, meaning the company failed to respond to the finding of liability, or to come to court the day the judgment was rendered.

President Randy Cagle Jr. is named in the court record as representing the company. He could not be reached for comment.

The suit still is pending against Gaines and Jackson, the only other defendants in the case.

Dixon attorneys Paul and Tom Whitcombe are representing Brockman.

According to the suit:

On Aug. 19, 2019, Jackson was driving and Gaines the front-seat passenger in a white Inmate Service van transporting at least two inmates in the westbound left lane of Interstate 88. The van’s bright lights were on.

Brockman, who was driving his Caravan westbound in the left lane, moved to the right lane, in front of the transport van, “to get their attention.”

The transport van switched lanes and pulled up next to Brockman, who rolled down his passenger window and yelled to Jackson and Gaines to “turn down your (expletive) brights.”

“Concerned that the security of the inmates they were transporting was being threatened, defendant Jackson produced a firearm from under the driver’s seat. Defendant Gaines told defendant Jackson to ‘scare the (expletive) out of him.’”

Jackson fired multiple shots at Brockman’s van; four rounds hit it, one passing through a case of water bottles behind Brockman’s seat, the suit says.

The shooting happened just before the Dixon toll booth. Jackson got off at the Dixon exit and pulled into the Road Ranger on Route 26, while Brockman followed at a distance and pulled in to the Pizza Hut parking lot across the street and called 911.

Brockman’s dash cam recorded the entire incident.

While Brockman was waiting for state police to arrive, Jackson and Gaines left, called their employer at Inmate Services, and told him what happened. He told them to “get rid of the evidence” by disposing of the gun, thus ratifying their conduct, the suit says.

Brockman is seeking $1 million in damages plus costs from each man for assault. He had asked the same from Inmate Services.

Jackson’s private attorney, Daniel E. Radakovich of Chicago, has filed a motion to dismiss the suit against his client.

In it, he argues that Brockman did not have a reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery, one of the elements of assault that must be proven, because, according to his interview with state police, he did not know at the time he was being shot at – he heard only thuds when the bullets struck his Caravan, he didn’t see a gun or Jackson pointing or shooting a gun because of the tint on windows of the transport van, and because it was too dark to see the transport van window being rolled down.

He cannot, in fact, even identify Jackson as the shooter, Radakovich argues.

All Brockman heard “was what he believed sounded like rocks hitting his vehicle. That is all that is at issue here – sounds. No visual conduct, no visual evidence, and no visual confirmation of Jackson’s involvement.

“These facts are insufficient to establish that Jackson caused plaintiff to reasonably apprehend that he would suffer a battery, and they are therefor insufficient to establish that Jackson is liable to plaintiff for assault,” the motion says.

In his response, Tom Whitcombe cites case law that notes that “the intention to do harm is of the essence of an assault,” and that all the case law Radakovich cited was for criminal cases that require the “beyond all reasonable doubt” standard for conviction, whereas a civil case requires the lesser burden of a preponderance of evidence.

A status hearing in the civil suit is set for Jan. 14.

Jackson is in Lee County jail on $1 million bond. Gaines was freed Oct., 2019, after posting $5,000, of his $50,000 bond.

Gaines, who is represented by Lee County Public Defender Bob Thompson in the criminal case, appears to have no attorney in the civil suit, and has not appeared at any hearings related to the suit.

Jackson’s next hearing in the criminal case is is Jan. 26; Gaines’ is Jan. 27.

Attempted murder carries 6 to 30 years in prison, or up to 80 years if the victim is an officer, firefighter, or corrections officer acting in an official capacity; 20 years can be added for the use of a gun, and at least 85 percent of the term must be served.

Aggravated discharge is punishable by 4 to 15 years.

It is not clear from the suit which agency Inmates Services Corp. was working for that day, or if it was transporting prisoners from Illinois or Iowa. Messages left with various state agencies looking to clarify that information have not been returned this holiday week.

Online reports outline a history of history of escapes and accusations of maltreatment of inmates nationwide, and federal court records show the company is named in one capacity or another in more than 40 lawsuits , all in various stages of adjudication.

In May 2018, inmate Dennis Shaner, 50, took the unsecured gun from under the driver’s seat of an Inmate Services van in Greene County, Missouri, and shot himself in the head.