Complaint alleges that Palm Bay Police Department officers tased Mr. Farley while he was on top of a six-foot fence, causing him to fall head-first, break his neck, and die after nearly a year as a quadriplegic..
ORLANDO, Fla. (June 9, 2026) — Nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump, national trial firm Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, and The Middleton Law Firm have filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Palm Bay, Florida, and two of its police officers on behalf of the estate of Thomas Farley. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division.
According to the complaint, on the night of June 28, 2024, Mr. Farley, a 31-year-old Black man, father, and construction worker, was outside a Palm Bay convenience store with friends when Palm Bay Police Department (“PBPD”) Sergeant Samantha Missale arrived. The complaint alleges that Mr. Farley and his friends ran, and that Sgt. Missale later acknowledged the men had not committed any crime. According to the complaint, Sgt. Missale called PBPD Officer Derrick Mitchell to assist and, when the officers saw Mr. Farley climbing a six-foot wooden fence, Sgt. Missale instructed Officer Mitchell to deploy his taser. The lawsuit alleges that Officer Mitchell tased Mr. Farley while he was on top of the fence, causing him to fall headfirst to the ground.
The complaint alleges that the fall broke Mr. Farley’s neck and left him paralyzed from the mid-chest down. Mr. Farley spent nearly a year as a quadriplegic before dying of his injuries on June 19, 2025. He is survived by his mother, Pamela Farley, and his young child.
The lawsuit alleges that the officers’ use of a taser against Mr. Farley at an elevated height was unconstitutional deadly force under the Fourth Amendment. As alleged in the complaint, Mr. Farley was not armed or dangerous, did not threaten anyone, and did not pose any risk to the officers’ safety or any other person’s safety.
The complaint further alleges that the unlawful tasing of Mr. Farley was not an aberration; rather, it was the predictable result of PBPD’s policies and practices. At the time of the incident, PBPD’s written taser policy authorized elevated-height tasings without requiring deadly-force justification, despite a 2021 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Bradley v. Benton, 10 F.4th 1232 (11th Cir. 2021), which held that tasing a person at an elevated height constitutes deadly force that may not be used against an unarmed person who is not suspected of a violent crime.
“Once again, an unarmed young Black man has been killed by police in this country,” said civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. “Thomas Farley posed no threat, was no danger to anyone, and was simply running away from officers. That should not be a death sentence. We have seen this painful story play out throughout our nation’s history. We stand with the Farley family and demand accountability for this injustice.”
According to the complaint, less than a year before the incident involving Mr. Farley, Officer Mitchell had deployed his taser against another individual in a similar fall-risk position without having deadly-force justification. The lawsuit alleges that PBPD’s second-highest-ranking official recommended that Officer Mitchell be terminated, but that the City rejected that recommendation and instead gave him a merit-based pay raise.
The plaintiff is Pamela Farley, Mr. Farley’s mother and the Executor of his estate. The defendants are the City of Palm Bay, Officer Derrick Mitchell, and Sergeant Samantha Missale. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as wrongful death under Florida law. The lawsuit demands a jury trial.
“My son Thomas was the protector, the rock, and the heart of our family. He had a God-given talent, not just for football and baseball, but for loving and protecting the people he cared about. I am bringing this lawsuit so that Thomas’s name is remembered and so no other family has to live through what mine has,” said Plaintiff Pamela Farley.
Counts in the complaint include:
COUNT I — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Excessive Force — Defendant Mitchell
COUNT II — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Excessive Force (Supervisory Liability) — Defendant Missale
COUNT III — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Excessive Force (Monell) — Defendant City of Palm Bay
COUNT IV — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Failure to Intervene — Defendant Missale
COUNT V — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Failure to Intervene (Monell) — Defendant City of Palm Bay
COUNT VI — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Excessive Force (Post-Tasing) — Defendants Mitchell and Missale
COUNT VII — 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Deliberate Indifference to Serious Medical Needs (Post-Tasing) — Defendants Mitchell and Missale
COUNT VIII — Wrongful Death, Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16 et seq. — Defendants Mitchell, Missale, and City of Palm Bay
“This is not a case about one or two bad officers. The Palm Bay Police Department’s own written policy authorized the kind of unconstitutional, elevated-height tasing that killed Thomas Farley. The Chief of Police publicly declared that Officer Mitchell ‘followed departmental policy.’ The Mayor of Palm Bay applauded the officers. PBPD has a long-standing practice of tolerating and even condoning excessive force by its officers, which allowed this pattern of police brutality to continue. And Thomas Farley is dead because of it. The City of Palm Bay must answer for that,” said Romanucci & Blandin Senior Attorney Joshua M. Levin.
“The Palm Bay Police Department has refused, again and again, to hold its officers accountable for excessive force—and Thomas Farley paid for that refusal with his life. PBPD must finally be held accountable—before another Palm Bay family is forced to bury their child,” said Attorney LaFonda Middleton of The Middleton Law Firm.
The plaintiff is represented by Benjamin Crump, Sue-Ann Robinson, and Gabrielle Higgins of Ben Crump Law; Joshua M. Levin and Colton M. Johnson Taylor of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC; and LaFonda Middleton of The Middleton Law Firm.
The filed, stamped complaint can be accessed here.
MEDIA CONTACT:
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ABOUT BEN CRUMP LAW
Through his work, nationally renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has spearheaded a legal movement to better protect the rights of marginalized citizens. He has led landscape-changing civil rights cases and represented clients in a wide range of areas including civil rights, personal injury, labor and employment, class actions, and more. Ben Crump Law is dedicated to holding the powerful accountable. For more information, visit bencrump.com.
ABOUT ROMANUCCI & BLANDIN, LLC
Romanucci & Blandin is a Chicago-based national trial practice committed to fighting for victims of negligence, abuse and wrongful death. For 25 years, we have secured more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements for our clients – many for millions of dollars and others record-setting awards. Our experience ranges from mass shootings, civil rights and police misconduct to medical malpractice, sexual abuse, motor vehicle accidents or workplace injury cases involving individual or institutional negligence. Romanucci & Blandin is a valuable legal resource to individuals and groups of people who have been injured by others’ wrongdoing. Referring attorneys and clients say several factors differentiate our firm: Our record of success, depth of experience, talented and dedicated legal team, tireless preparation and strategic use of communications to fight for the rights of those whose lives have been changed forever. We are different from other personal injury firms in that our work does not stop when a verdict or settlement is secured. We are often inspired by our clients’ experiences and commit resources to create change in our communities. For more information about Romanucci & Blandin, please visit www.rblaw.net or call (312) 458-1000.
ABOUT THE MIDDLETON LAW FIRM, LLC
The Middleton Law Firm, LLC is a client-centered trial practice law firm dedicated to advocating for individuals and families whose lives have been disrupted by negligence, injury, or injustice. Led by attorney LaFonda E. Middleton, who brings more than 30 years of legal experience, the firm represents clients in personal injury matters, including motor vehicle collisions, wrongful death, premises liability, and other cases involving serious harm caused by the wrongdoing of others. For more information, visit www.lgmlawfirm.com.
