Former Columbus police officer Canyon Boykin is telling through federal court records his story of what happened the night he shot and killed Ricky Ball.
In a response his attorney, Jackson-based Jeffrey Reynolds, filed earlier this month to a wrongful death suit in U.S. District Court of Northern Mississippi in Aberdeen, Boykin is claiming he shot Ball twice in self-defense while performing his duties as a police officer.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed in the name of Memphis attorney Paul N. Royal on behalf of the Ball estate, claims Boykin unlawfully killed Ball on the night of Oct. 16, 2015, following a traffic stop. It also claims another former CPD officer who arrived later at the scene, Garrett Mittan, planted a gun near Ball’s body and later reported it stolen from his home.
However, Boykin claims Ball, who was a passenger in a vehicle being stopped for a no tag light violation, exited the vehicle while it was still moving and ran away. Boykin claims he immediately gave chase on foot and was forced to shoot Ball, who he said was pointing a pistol at him. The response denies Boykin shot Ball in the back, as was claimed in the initial complaint.
Ball was arrested about 1.5 blocks from the traffic stop and later died at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle from his wounds. A 9mm handgun found near Ball at the scene had reportedly been stolen two months earlier from Mittan’s home.
Boykin’s response says Ball’s blood was found on the gun and on a bag of marijuana at the scene.
Mittan, along with current CPD officer Johnny Branch and former CPD officer Yolanda Young are also named as defendants. Their attorneys filed responses to the allegations in October.
Ball’s father, Ricky Martin, has filed a separate wrongful death suit against Boykin.
A Lowndes County grand jury has indicted Boykin for manslaughter in the shooting, and a circuit court judge this month granted the former officer’s change of venue request to be tried in a different county.
The city council fired Boykin shortly after the shooting for failing to initiate his body camera before or during the incident, having an unauthorized passenger in his patrol car and violating the city’s social media policy by making derogatory posts about women, African-Americans and disabled people following the incident.
Young, Branch and a civilian female, Alisa Stanford, were all in Boykin’s patrol car at the time of the traffic stop, Boykin’s response said. He claims Stanford was authorized to ride along that night. Neither Branch nor Young used their body cameras before or during the incident.
Boykin is suing the city in federal court for wrongful termination.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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