Sheriff: video contradicts allegations in lawsuit
Barbour County Sheriff Leroy Upshaw sent out a press release on Tuesday afternoon commenting on the lawsuit pending against Chief Deputy Ronnie Benefield, saying that the accusations alleged against Benefield and various deputies are completely false.
The story related by the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department is much different than that listed in the lawsuit by the plaintiffs Tera Benefield and Ray Charles McCloud. The plaintiffs claim that deputies entered her residence, deploying a Taser against Leon Jernigan, Jr., who is also a plaintiff in the case. They then allegedly beat and choked a hand-cuffed McCloud for an extended period of time.
The press release states that Benefield and two other Barbour County deputies responded to a potential domestic dispute involving McCloud and Tera Benefield at the request of Tera’s seventeen year-old son on June 1.
The press release states, “Upon entering the home with the consent of Tera’s son, who has also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Chief Benefield and the deputies took only the time necessary to determine that no one was harmed.”
The Sheriff’s Department also claims to have a dashboard video that proves the deputies were in the house for only four minutes, despite McCloud’s claim that he was hand-cuffed and beaten for an extended period of time.
It also shows that, within six minutes, both McCloud and Tera walked out of the house uninjured and drove away of their own free will. This and other evidence are to be presented at the federal court hearing on July 6.
In response to Tera Benefield and McCloud’s claims that the alleged episode was racially motivated, the Barbour County Sheriff’s Department states that Benefield is “concerned that his daughter, Tera, is involved with McCloud but not because he is African American.
“Rather, Chief Benefield’s concern stems from the fact that McCloud is a convicted felon with a history of violence, drug distribution, and theft. McCloud has served time in prison and is presently wanted in Houston County on three outstanding felony drug warrants.”
It also points out that Benefield’s first calling is to serve as pastor of a multi-ethic church that welcomes people of all ethnicities. Chief Benefield has also performed a multi-ethnic marriage ceremony.
More information will appear in this weekend’s edition of The Eufaula Tribune.
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Reader Reactions
my daughter was the owner of the 1999 vechile ray charles mccloud aka ray-ray stole.instead of living off of others he should get a job an pay restitution as ordered by the judge.not a penny has he paid in 10 years.this was a brand new suv,that she paid a large down payment on.insurance paid the loan off ,but the down payment is just gone.maybe ronnie just wanted tera to get a honest,working man ,something she never had.
Such a waste of our tax payers dollars. It sounds like this young lady needs to get to live her life as she is choosing. Dad needs to turn his attention on his congregation of whom desires his help. We know what happened to the little boy that cried wolf too many times. The same would go for a mental case little girl. Mr. B sounds like your little girl is screaming for her way-let her have it. As far as her children yes we all know you will have to jump in there and see that her kids are not affected by her lifestyle. I’ve seen this and I’ll tell you they they will grow up to understand exactly what their parents were and they will either choose to be like them or to come out of it and become something I don’t know like maybe the President of the US. Hang in there and hold your head up and thank the good Lord that our kids are responsible for their own lives and we are ours when we get to the judgement.
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