Deputies fired rubber bullets at woman confined to Kansas jail cell, lawsuit alleges

A woman is suing a former Reno County sheriff and deputies, claiming the deputies fired a flashbang and rubber bullets at her with a 12-gauge shotgun while she was in a jail cell.

A flashbang, also called a flash grenade, is an explosive meant to stun someone with a blinding flash of light and a loud noise.

A lawyer for Realiti Courson, 25, filed the suit in federal court last month, saying “caged dogs are afforded better treatment than Realiti was given when she was shocked and shot while caged in a cell.”

The defendants are former sheriff Randy Henderson; Shawn McClay, a captain at the jail; jail deputies Jake Harrison, Cody Blake and Kaitlynn Hazell; and the Reno County Commission.

Reno County Undersheriff Shawn McHaley said the department would not comment on an ongoing lawsuit.

Courson was sentenced to a 30-day jail sanction for violating her probation in 2019. Late one August night, the suit alleges, deputies Blake and Hazell told her she was being moved to isolation.

When she asked why, deputies gave conflicting reasons, the suit says.

In isolation, she began to have a panic attack that multiple officers called a temper tantrum, the suit says. She hit and kicked her cell door, rang the buzzer and covered the surveillance camera twice.

The jail guards should have known she suffered from depression and anxiety, the suit says.

The suit alleges that officers told her to “cuff up,” the suit says, and when she didn’t Harrison told her: “’This is going to get real bad for you.’”

Harrison then shot a flashbang “round into her cell through the door hole,” the suit says.

“The explosion produced a deafening sound, resonating at 170-180 decibels, and causing a blinding flash. ... The ear-splitting noise was further exacerbated by the small concrete space,” the suit says. “The event caused excruciating confusion, temporary deafness, and further fear and panic on (Courson’s) part.”

Harrison yelled at Courson, who couldn’t hear him, the suit says.

Then Harrison fired kinetic impact projectiles, also known as rubber or plastic bullets, hitting Courson twice in the right lower leg, the suit says.

Proper uses of less-lethal shotgun ammunition include situations like crowd control, the suit says.

“In this case, the rounds were used on (Courson), who was already in custody, locked down, and presenting no danger,” the suit says.

The bullets caused significant structural damage and required immediate surgery, the suit says. Courson “sustained numerous scarring and abrasions to her face, knees, legs and wrists.”

Courson’s lawyer says she was targeted for being Black.

“The punishment of sound bombs and shotgun shootings is a punishment reserved for African American detainees,” the suit says.

Courson faced charges in connection with the incident, but was found not guilty.

“The defense argued that these charges were based on fiction designed to protect the Sheriff from this anticipated civil suit. The criminal court agreed,” the suit says.

The suit says that Henderson’s and McClay’s failure to train and supervise deputies led to the “inevitable sadistic and malicious assault on Ms. Courson resulting in serious injuries and permanent scarring.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 4:57 AM.