RUSK COUNTY, Texas — An East Texas family is suing Rusk County after their loved one was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop in September 2022.
Timothy Michael Randall was pulled over along State Highway 64 East in Rusk County.
A report from the Texas Attorney General's Office revealed Randall was unarmed when he was shot by a Rusk County Sheriff’s Office deputy.
"You shouldn't be pulled over for a traffic violation and in less than two minutes, you're not here anymore," Randall's mother Wendy Tippitt said. "Your life is being taken. That should not happen."
Wendy was the last person to speak with Randall before he was shot and killed.
"During our conversation, he told me he was being pulled over," Wendy said. "He was still on the phone with me. When I heard the officer say, 'good evening, sir.' And I heard my son say, 'good evening' and he hung up. The last thing he said to me was I love you."
The attorney general's office says Randall refused to comply with the deputy's orders and resisted efforts to handcuff him, leading to a struggle.
At one point, Randall broke free and stood up while the deputy was in a "tactically compromised position on the ground." That’s when the deputy fired his handgun.
"In a case in which an officer may make the decision to use deadly force, the officer must have articulable facts that he or she is in eminent, eminent danger of not only bodily injury, but death," said Joseph Oxman, the lead attorney for Randall's family.
Oxman says no body cam or dash cam footage of the incident has been released.
"I believe that the evidence will show that he (the deputy) murdered Timothy Michael Randall," Oxman said.
CBS19 reached out to the Rusk County District Attorney's Office and Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez for comment, but both of them declined.
"They wanted to hear, is their silence was the loudest thing that they offered us. So now we're gonna knock at the door," Doug Randall, Timothy's brother, said.
Last year, a grand jury no-billed the deputy in this case, which means they chose not to pursue charges against him.