Man released from Tallapoosa jail killed in shootout the following day

By Jennifer Foster | The Tallassee Tribune

Published Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Dec. 29 shooting in which 20-year-old Michael McIntyre of Tallassee was killed was his third run-in with police in two months, a Tallassee Tribune/ Wetumpka Herald investigation has revealed.

The newspapers also learned that McIntyre’s mother had won a $30,000 judgment against the city for police misconduct in 2006.

The Herald reported in its weekend edition on January 16 that McIntyre had been released from the Tallapoosa County jail on Dec. 28, just hours before he was shot to death in a confrontation with Tallassee police officers in the lower public housing complex on Highway 229.

McIntyre had been arrested in east Tallassee on Dec. 21 on two counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett told the Herald.

He was transferred to the Tallapoosa jail on Dec. 23 and posted a $20,000 bond on Dec. 28, Abbett said.

When he was arrested in east Tallassee, McIntyre had only recently been released from the Elmore County Jail, where he had served 30 days after being found guilty of possession of marijuana, attempted burglary and criminal tampering charges, Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin told the Herald.

McIntyre had been booked into that facility on Nov. 12.

McIntyre’s mother, Lillie McIntyre, successfully sued the City of Tallassee and the Tallassee Police Department in 2006. She demanded and was awarded $30,000 in damages after a Tallassee police officer, identified in court documents only as “Officer LaValley,” sprayed Mace in Michael McIntyre’s face after arresting him for harassment and cuffing his hands behind his back.

Lillie McIntyre was represented in that lawsuit by Mike Harper, who now serves as the city attorney.

According to court records, Harper was awarded half of the $30,000 judgment for legal fees; Circuit Judge Ben Fuller directed Harper to hold the $15,000 balance in an interest-bearing account until Michael McIntyre reached the age of majority (in Alabama, 19 for unmarried persons). At that point, he was to receive the remainder of the judgment, along with accrued interest.

Though six months passed between the incident for which McIntyre sued – on or around July 8, 2006 – and Dec. 15 of that year, when the lawsuit was filed, things happened swiftly from that point: The city was notified of the lawsuit, responded to it, settled it and paid the judgment in full on that same day.

---

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

---