Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include the names of additional officers charged in connection with Gershun Freeman’s death.

Nine Shelby County Sheriff’s Office corrections officers have been indicted in the jail death of Gershun Freeman, Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said during a Wednesday, Sept. 20, press conference.

Indictments in the case are expected to be unsealed Monday.

Bonner claims Freeman video release was illegal and politically motivated

Freeman, 33, had been arrested and placed in jail Oct. 1, 2022, for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault of his ex-girlfriend. 

He was involved in the fatal encounter with corrections officers in the Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar Ave. on Oct. 5.

Two SCSO employees, Courtney Parham and Stevon Jones, have each been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in Freeman’s death. Jones also is charged with assault-bodily harm.

Parham and Jones were arrested on those charges Wednesday.

The other corrections officers — Chelsey Duckett, Jeffrey Gibson, Lareko Elliott, Damian Cooper, Ebonee Davis and Anthony Howell — are charged with aggravated assault resulting in death of another. A ninth officer has not yet turned themselves in to law enforcement.

SCSO initially declined to release a video taken of Freeman moments before his death. It was later released by Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk, who took over the investigation after Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy recused his office from it.

Family retains attorney Ben Crump following death in MPD custody

During a Wednesday, Sept. 20, taping of the WKNO-TV program “Behind The Headlines,” Bonner, who is also a candidate for Memphis mayor, said he felt the video release of Freeman’s encounter was illegal and the handling of the investigation has been politically motivated.

Bonner reiterated this stance during the press conference and also said he asked the case to be reassigned from Funk.

“I want this community to know that I stand with these officers,” Bonner said, even saying he would donate to their legal fund if someone were to organize it.

The struggle between Freeman and at least 10 officers lasted several minutes.

The video shows multiple sheriff’s office personnel kicking and swinging metal implements at Freeman after he flees his cell. He flails on the ground at the feet of jail personnel. Throughout the incident, the personnel use chemical agents in an attempt to subdue him. The floor is covered with it, the video shows.

After Freeman escapes jail personnel, he flees naked up an escalator where he is subdued by multiple officers. Jail personnel kneel on Freeman for several minutes and when they get off of him, he’s limp. 

SCSO records said Freeman’s cause of death was “exacerbation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease due to physical altercation and subdual, contributory cause of death probably psychotic disorder.”

The death was ruled a homicide by the West Tennessee Regional Forensic Center.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing Freeman’s family in a wrongful death civil lawsuit and has called for answers and accountability over his death. He said Freeman was suffering from a “mental health crisis” at the time of the fatal encounter.

Freeman was one of 40 inmates to die at the Shelby County jail since 2019, something for which Bonner has received scrutiny during his campaign.

Attorney Brice Timmons has sued the county over a number of deaths in the Shelby County Jail. He said he spoke with the Freeman family Wednesday morning, and they feel as if they might get justice.

“It’s really astounding to me that Sheriff Bonner would go ahead and make this announcement,” Timmons said. “Yeah, the simple fact is is these indictments have not been made public yet, these indictments remain sealed, he is trying to get ahead of this for the sake of his election campaign, and he violated state law to do it, and that is a ridiculous thing.”

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation handled the investigation into Freeman’s death. 

Also during “Behind the Headlines” Wednesday, Bonner raised issues with Funk’s involvement because of an ongoing investigation into the Nashville DA’s office.

TBI agents searched Funk’s office in March in what is believed to be an investigation by the Tennessee Attorney General’s office of surveillance cameras with microphones in common areas of the building where Funk’s office is located.

Funk has said he does not believe there was probable cause for the search of his office.