A Collinsville woman is accusing Lauderdale County officials of stonewalling attempts to investigate a traffic stop in which she alleges a sheriff’s deputy used excessive force.

Addressing the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors Monday, Meagan Clearman said it has been almost a year since the traffic stop took place. In that time, she alleges she has been subjected to retaliation while receiving little to no help from county officials in procuring public documents related to the incident. Now almost a year later, she said she still does not have a use of force report for the incident.

“No explanation, no accountability, and despite my formal preservation request and notice of intent to sue, this board, (County Administrator) Chris Lafferty, (Board Attorney) Lee Thaggard, have never responded to this request. Not once,” she said.

On Aug. 21, 2024, Clearman’s husband, and son were stopped by deputies conducting a roadside safety checkpoint at the intersection of Centerhill Martin and Pine Springs roads. According to a report from Deputy Justin Harper, which Meagan Clearman posted to social media, Ben Clearman claimed the checkpoint was unconstitutional and was uncooperative. When told to step out of the car or have the window broken, he refused, and deputies broke the window.

After initially refusing to step out, the Clearman’s son, a minor at the time, complied with deputies’ commands, was handcuffed and mirandized. Harper states in his report he later removed the handcuffs once it was clear the juvenile was calm. Clearman’s husband was charged with disorderly conduct, and her son was released into her custody at the scene.

In an email Tuesday, Ben Clearman refuted the details of the report stating he was not uncooperative, and his son was never asked to step out of the vehicle. He said his window was smashed because deputies did not like his attitude.

“I was not uncooperative at the stop. I had an attitude as I am allowed under our constitution. At no point has anyone asked me why I had an attitude. I was leaving the county the next day to be gone for over a month. I had just waited in the church parking lot to pick up my son for 45 minutes. More than 40 minutes after church was supposed to be released. I was asked to show ID and complied with that order up until the point my window was smashed. My window was smashed because the deputy didn’t like my attitude as he stated in the video,” he said.

“Also, my son never refused to exit the vehicle. The vehicle was still in drive and doors were still automatically locked. The deputy never asked me to put it in park. Once he smashed the window, I put it in park and doors unlocked. While I was telling the deputies that my son was a minor, Deputy May forcefully removed me and slammed me to the ground. My son was never loud or anything but calm as well.”

Meagan Clearman told supervisors her son was assaulted by deputies and said she has documentation from the emergency room, as well as body camera video, to back up her allegations. County officials, however, have denied Clearman’s son was injured in the stop, she said.

“Thaggard later emailed my husband and I regarding this, and he told me specifically, as a mother of a child who was assaulted by this police department, that my child, and I quote, ‘was an innocent bystander, who was not injured,’ despite emergency room medical documentation and body cameras that were provided to my husband for his case,” she said.

Sheriff Ward Calhoun said Clearman has previously made allegations to both state and federal agencies that deputies in his department have violated individuals’ rights. Nothing has come from the allegations, he said.

“Both times, no action was taken because it did not meet any threshold anywhere that was close to having violated anyone’s rights,” he said.

Calhoun said his deputies did not do anything wrong, however he is limited in what he can publicly say because Clearman has informed the county she intends to sue. He said he welcomes any investigation that will expose the truth and correct the public record on what actually happened during the stop.

“Because of the fact that she has notified the county we are going to be sued, our attorney tells me I can’t say anything, even though I very much would like to get out there in the public, which I have not done, and defend the men and women of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department who are out doing a very dangerous job every day,” he said. 

“I stand ready and long for an investigation done by any other state agency or federal agency to clear our name so that the information that is put out in this community is accurate, not biased, not somewhat truthful, so that we can continue to do the job that we do. I look forward to that day.”