Date of Offense
Statement
CASE CODES: Ref: Bayless et al. v. Jones County Mississippi et al. (U.S.D.C. Southern District of Mississippi, No. 2:2023cv00059)
Deputy Andrew Yates of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department (JCSD) is a principal named defendant in a federal civil rights lawsuit establishing specific, actionable claims of violent misconduct, Fourth Amendment violations, and official fabrication.
The underlying federal complaint isolates Deputy Yates as the primary physical aggressor and initiating officer in an enforcement action determined to lack any legal basis or probable cause, directly bearing upon his credibility, use of force, and investigative integrity.
The federal complaint details multiple explicit physical and procedural violations executed personally by Deputy Yates during an encounter on January 11, 2023:
Deputy Yates entered a private residential property without a search warrant, consent, or exigent circumstances. Upon entering, Yates approached a private vehicle parked on the property and began looking into the home’s windows, conducting an illegal search. This demonstrates a direct willingness to bypass core constitutional protections against illegal entry and search, raising significant credibility issues in any case where Deputy Yates claims a lawful basis for an investigation, stop, or search.
Deputy Yates ordered a compliant citizen (DeShon Bayless) out of his vehicle. Despite the citizen exiting the car immediately with his hands raised above his head, Deputy Yates physically seized him, forced him onto his stomach on the ground, and grabbed him by the back of the head, violently shoving his face into the dirt to demonstrate total authority and control. These allegations document an unprovoked, highly aggressive use of excessive force against an entirely compliant, non-resisting individual. This heavily impacts Yates' credibility and reliability regarding his characterization of "suspect resistance" or the necessity of physical force in his arrests.
Deputy Yates initiated the physical seizure, search, and ultimate 15-hour detention of the citizen despite having zero reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe any illegal activity was occurring. The lawsuit asserts that Yates had no legal basis to conclude the citizen posed any threat or danger. This goes directly to Yates' competency, official honesty, and potential pattern of fabricating or inventing non-existent criminal behavior to justify illegal detentions and physical assaults.
After physically subduing the citizen, Deputy Yates relinquished control to Captain Vince Williams, who proceeded to place the compliant individual in a chokehold. Deputy Yates stood by and failed to intercede to halt the secondary assault being committed by his superior officer.
Deputy Andrew Yates acts as a primary arresting officer and field investigator for JCSD, meaning his field notes, affidavits, and courtroom testimony are heavily relied upon to sustain state convictions.
Because a formal federal civil rights complaint sues Deputy Yates on multiple individual counts—including warrantless search, unlawful seizure, excessive force, and false arrest—his professional reliability and adherence to constitutional standards are profoundly compromised.
The US Citizen Reporters are a group of public and private defense advocates that scour the internet for documented incidents of police misconduct that have eluded accountability.
