ROCK HILL, S.C. — Jethro DeVane, the Rock Hill man who accused police officers in 2019 of wrongfully ordering him out of his house in the middle of the night, has died, according to his attorney. Following his death, his attorney and wife filed a federal lawsuit against the Rock Hill Police Department.
The federal lawsuit alleged officers with the city-operated police department of "dragging their feet on resolving his lawsuit," attorney Justin Bamberg explained in a released statement Monday. DeVane's original lawsuit was filed in a South Carolina state court in 2020.
"I gave my word to Mr. DeVane and his wife that I would not rest until we receive justice, even posthumously, for him and I intend to do exactly that," Bamberg said in his released statement. "This case should have been resolved last year while he was still alive."
In their original statement following the 2019 incident, the Rock Hill Police Department said officers were looking for four people connected to a vehicle break-in, which occurred shortly before 4 a.m.
One of the officers chased the suspects to an area along Lucky Lane, according to police. The department said as officers were searching, they came to DeVane's home on Barber Street, which is located directly behind Lucky Lane.
"The officers observed the grass to be uncut, a swimming pool unmaintained, and the door of the residence standing completely open. There were no lights on inside the residence or outside the residence. Officers believed the residence to be unoccupied," the police department said in their 2019 statement.
Officers believed the suspects may have run inside the Barber Street home.
The department maintained officers were searching for the suspects when they encountered DeVane in the doorway. At the time, they said he was "detained by officers for safety" as they conducted a search of the residence.
When the state lawsuit was filed in 2020, the police department declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Bamberg's office said DeVane, who was 71-years-old at the time, was "startled" by the police encounter. They said their client, "Jumped out of bed and opened the back door where he was later met by a contingent of Rock Hill police officers, guns drawn, who ordered him out of his own home completely naked, placed a gun to the back of his head, and unlawfully searched his home."
DeVane died in his sleep at the age of 73 on May 21. His death was announced Monday.
DeVane had been seeking a public apology from Rock Hill's mayor and police chief, according to Bamberg's office. He was also seeking additional training for officers.
Bamberg is the same lawyer who represented Travis Price, the man wrongfully arrested by the Rock Hill Police Department in 2021. Price received a public apology and had his charges dropped. The officer in the case was also charged for his actions against Price but a jury later found him not guilty.