How a deadly police shooting changed one north Alabama city

Nearly seven months after an officer shot and killed a Black man in his front yard in the dark of night, a north Alabama city is still reeling with protests and reckoning with how it wants to be policed.

The police officer who killed Stephen Perkins in September faces a murder charge, as a federal lawsuit looms over the city of Decatur and the towing company that repossessed his truck on the night of the shooting.

In January, police Chief Todd Pinion announced after an internal review that officers are no longer allowed to assist with vehicle repossessions.

Protesters continue to demand change, even though dozens of them have been arrested and despite the mayor’s attempt to quell their demonstrations near his home. Residents continue to pack city council meetings, saying the reforms do not go far enough and calling for Mayor Tab Bowling to fire the chief.

Now, the council is considering an ordinance to codify how police should interact with tow truck drivers attempting repossessions.

Perkins’ widow, Catrela, said it’s not enough. She was among three people arrested at a protest over the weekend, calling for the chief’s firing.

Catrela Perkins, widow of Stephen PerkinsKayode Crown

“…if you’ve got corrupt officers in the department, they’re still not going to follow the ordinance,” she told AL.com.

“You’ve got to have the right officers in there that’s going to abide by the ordinance. So you can put in 10,000 ordinances, but that doesn’t mean that they will abide by it.”

The shooting

After midnight on Sept. 29, a tow truck driver told police that Perkins threatened him with a gun as he tried to repossess his truck.

An hour later, security camera footage showed the tow truck return to Perkins’ house with police. No video records showed the police turn on their emergency lights, knock on Perkins’ door or otherwise announce their presence. As the tow truck driver again began repossessing the truck, Perkins ran outside shining a bright light — state investigators later said he “brandished” a handgun “equipped with a light” — and told him to drop the vehicle.

An officer, identified as Bailey Marquette, emerged from a dark corner and shouted, “Hey, hey, police, get on the ground.” Marquette shot Perkins multiple times, according to court records. Bullets also flew into a neighboring home, narrowly missing Justin Shepherd, an Army veteran who was Perkins’ friend and gym trainee.

Decatur lawyer Carl Cole argued that the police should not have helped with the repossession of Perkins’ truck.

“Alabama law does not allow the police to assist in a repossession unless the party seeking repossession obtains a court order,” Cole told AL.com.

“The fact that they brought the tow truck driver back out there makes it clear that they were aiding in a repossession, and that’s not allowed under Alabama law, absent a court order.”

The Decatur Police Department declined to comment for this story.

A video obtained and published by the conservative website 1819 News includes body camera footage that provides a closer look at some of Perkins’ last moments, as he begged for an ambulance.

“I can’t breathe,” Perkins said as he lay bleeding on the ground while an officer put him in handcuffs.

“Please tell them to hurry up” were some of his last words.

He died soon after. He was 39, a gym enthusiast, a father of two.

Following an internal review, Decatur Mayor Tab Bowling in December fired three officers involved in the shooting and sent a fourth on administrative leave.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency investigated the shooting and handed over the findings to Scott Anderson, the district attorney of Morgan County. A grand jury in January indicted former Officer Marquette on a murder charge.

But protesters continue to march and call for more reform. And some are now calling for the firing of the police chief.

“I want the removal of Todd Pinion,” Mike Stovall, one of the protesters, told AL.com. “I don’t feel like Todd knows what he’s doing. I don’t feel like he’s good for our city.”

New ordinance

Meanwhile, the city is taking steps to make sure the unusual circumstances of the fatal shooting are not repeated. The Decatur City Council next month will vote on an ordinance aimed at making vehicle repossession attempts safer. Here’s what it does:

Limits repossession attempts to once in a 24-hour period, except on judicial order.
Requires police notification of a repossession attempt 30 minutes before.
Clarifies that state law mandates that a repossessor must stop once there is a risk of injury.

Violators risk business license suspension, a fine up to $500 and up to six months in jail.

City Attorney Herman H. Marks, Jr said the city considered input from the community but did not go beyond state law in crafting the ordinance.

“We just put in place what we think is the law, and it just clarifies and gives a reinforcement that that’s what we expect,” Marks told AL.com.

If the city council approves the ordinance at its next meeting on May 6, the new vehicle repossession law will be in force from June.

Anthony Victor, a Decatur car dealer, said he supports the cause of seeking justice for Perkins. But he doesn’t think the ordinance will make a difference.

“If you look at the history of this whole town, there’s probably never been a problem with any repo or something,” he told AL.com. “So now we’re going after something and trying to change ordinances because we haven’t disciplined the company and the cops that broke rules that night and murdered somebody.”

Perkins’ family is suing Allstar Recovery, the towing company that repossessed his truck, and Pentagon Federal Credit Union, which financed the vehicle. Allstar Recovery did not respond to requests for comments for this story. An attorney for Pentagon Federal Credit Union told AL.com on Tuesday that the firm has responded to the lawsuit in court and declined further comments for this story. The company argued in a filing on April 5 that the court should compel the family to move the case to arbitration. The family filed a response on April 19 asking the court to reject the motion.

Decatur resident Claudette Owens, a pastor, said “a group of pastors and myself, were instrumental in leading the repossession ordinance changes” and hopes it will “save lives.”

“It is not exactly what we want, but it’s much better than what it was originally,” she told AL.com. “We think it brings a little bit more accountability to the people that are going to be repossessing.”

Owens said she wishes that the ordinance included a restriction on repossession at night.

“We really wanted to have a restriction from any time after midnight to 5 a.m.,” Owens told AL.com. “But that is something the bankers and the car dealers that depend on bankers do not want to do because they say it would make it harder for people to get cars, harder for them to repossess their properties.”

Calls for reform

Chief Pinion in January prohibited officers’ involvement in vehicle repossession.

“In the event of repossession, officers are to take no action and can have no participation in the repossession,” Pinion said in a Jan. 25 written directive to the officers. “The officers’ sole responsibility is to keep the peace between all parties.”

The new directive also said “reasonable attempts should be made to ensure all parties involved are aware of police involvement/presence.”

“If a debtor refuses to relinquish the property, or if there is or was a breach of peace, the bank or plaintiff must stop the repossession process and be referred to the courts,” the document said.

The directive prohibits officers from entering a residence or private property without legal authority and requires officers to encourage “involved parties to seek the assistance of resolution services, legal counsel or take the matter to the civil courts” and that officers should not “take any enforcement action unless a crime is apparent.”

But the unrest continues.

“Anytime we have a protest up here, we’re going to be harassed,” said Stovall. “We were having something down the street. They had three drones out there. Then had undercover cars following us. And, come on now. Did that make sense? So, that’s what I said. We just want Todd Pinion to go.”

Mayor Bowling had enough of protesting near his home at night and, late in December, declared that protesters must have permits or risk arrest.

The city reversed the move after adopting a new ordinance in February, which allows protests without permits as long as they do not block traffic.

Alvin Moseley, who knew Perkins, did not regard the protest ordinance as a win.

“There haven’t been any real changes made,” he said. “It was already a right of ours to protest.”

Many protesters have been arrested in Decatur for disorderly conduct since the night of Perkins’ killing.

Police arrested Alainah Dailey for disorderly conduct while protesting near the mayor’s house weeks ago. Dailey told AL.com that protesters do not feel safe and continue to face intimidation by police.

“Protesters are still getting attacked,” she said. “One was attacked literally three weeks ago and she got tackled to the ground as a woman, by four grown men, grown police officers.”

Moseley also called for the police chief’s removal.

“First thing that needs to be done is we need a new police chief,” he said. “If they are not willing to give us a new police chief, he needs oversight, like a commissioner. I don’t see any other way that our community can even begin healing if we don’t have that. If we don’t have those things, what can we do?”

“The culture of the police department, if it does not change and they’re not going to be putting those policies or practices into play, which ultimately means none of us are safe.”