Officers Charged with Murder in Shooting Death of Six-Year-Old Boy

Two Louisiana police officers charged with murder following the shooting death of a 6-year-old boy have been the subject of numerous excessive force complaints, according to court records.

Jeremy Mardis, 6, was buckled into the front seat of his father’s car, which is where he died Tuesday night. The boy’s father, Christopher Few, is in critical condition from gunshot wounds.

Louisiana State Police say the two city marshals fired 18 shots during a pursuit of Few’s vehicle. The child was shot five times, authorities said.

The officers’ body-camera footage of the chase and shooting “is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen,” said Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Michael D. Edmonson at a Friday press conference. “Jeremy Mardis, six years old, he didn’t deserve to die like that.”

Marshals Derrick W. Stafford, 32, of Mansura, LA, and Norris J. Greenhouse Jr., 23, of Marksville, LA, are both charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

Four officers were involved in the encounter with Few and his son, and initially claimed they were trying to arrest the man on an outstanding warrant, The Washington Post reports. Edmonson disputed that account and said investigators are still trying to determine what started the chase.

“It’s a very tragic time. Nothing is more important than this badge that we wear on our uniform. The public allows us to wear that; it’s not a right, it’s a privilege. That badge has been tarnished,” Edmonson said.

Lafayette TV station KATC dug into the court records of both accused officers, finding that Stafford was indicted in October 2011 on two counts of aggravated rape; the case was later resolved.

Five civil lawsuits are pending against Stafford in Avoyelles Parish Louisiana; Greenhouse Jr. is named in several of the lawsuits.

These lawsuits are active in the court system:

• January 3, 2011 -- Stafford allegedly threw a handcuffed woman in the backseat with her hands cuffed and stunned her with a Taser during an arrest.
• July 4, 2012 – A couple trying to rush their dog to a veterinarian’s office for emergency care are suing Stafford. The officer reportedly yelled at the woman for trying to cross a parade route to reach the vet. When her husband later called to file a complaint against Stafford, he was arrested by Stafford for disturbing the peace and spent a night in jail.
• December 2012 – Stafford is accused of breaking a 15-year-old girl’s arm when he stopped a fight on a school bus.
• June 18, 2013 -- Stafford and Greenhouse crashed a Marksville Police Department cruiser into an open gate owned by the Avoylles Parish Sheriff’s Department. They filed sued against the department.
• July 4, 2013 – Greenhouse, Stafford and six other officers alleged dispersed pepper spray into a crowd during a fight. Another officer allegedly assaulted a 14-year-old boy during the melee, while a man was thrown to the ground, assaulted by several officers and doused with pepper spray again. Both alleged assaults resulted in lawsuits against the officers.
• July 2015 – Stafford and Greenhouse were named in a federal lawsuit against the city of Marksville filed by a member of the Libertarian Party who went to a town festival wearing a holstered handgun to show support for gun rights. When police confronted the man he claims he offered to store the weapon in his vehicle, but was instead elbowed in the face and stunned with a Taser by Stafford when he was handcuffed and on the ground. Police say the man fought with them and was drinking; the complainant denies using alcohol and says in his lawsuit that police deleted cell phone video that bolsters his claims.

Read the full KATC Investigation of the officers here.

»Photos of Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. courtesy of Louisiana State Police