CENTRE — The Cherokee County Commission, already involved in one legal tussle with the Board of Education, got more bad news late last week. 

The county government received official word Friday that it, along with several other individuals and municipalities, has been named in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a high-speed chase through Cherokee County two years ago. 

The lawsuit, electronically filed in the office of Circuit Clerk Dwayne Amos at 3:30 p.m. on April 1, charges that the county, along with the towns of Collinsville and Cedar Bluff, Sheriff’s Department deputy Tracy Dixon, Cedar Bluff police officer J.P. Curry and Collinsville officer Merwyn Harrison acted with negligence and “disregard for public safety” while pursuing Brian Lynn Jenkins in April 2009. 

The chase through the Sand Rock area on County Road 17, ended with Jenkins being killed when he was ejected from his vehicle after it was struck by a police car driven by one of the officers. 

The lawsuit states that, as a result of contact between the two vehicles at high speed, “Brian Lynn Jenkins suffered severe bodily injuries when the impact caused his vehicle to leave the road … ejecting him from the windshield on impact, causing his death.” 

The suit was initiated by Michael L. Jenkins, acting as executor of the deceased. The lawsuit, which seeks $50,000 in damages, also calls into question the training the officers received and the various departments' policies regarding the use of force.

Gadsden attorney Clark Stewart represents the Jenkins estate, and told The Post the officers were responding to calls from the area that shots were being fired at homes and road signs.

Stewart admitted his client began the chase by attempting to elude the officers. But he said the actions of the law enforcement officers involved in the high-speed dash through rural Cherokee County were senseless and had catastrophic consequences. 

“Ten minutes in to the chase, which occurred at 2:30 a.m., the officers knew who he was and they knew his license plate number, where he lived, everything,” Stewarts said. “My client was being pursued by three vehicles for something that was not worthy of a death sentence.”

Jenkins was the son of Patricia Jenkins, owner Pat’s Handy Mart in Sand Rock. In January 2009, she was sentenced to ten years in prison for unlawful possession of precursor chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine and five counts of attempted manufacturing.  

Stewart said his client’s behavior on the night he died may have been a snap reaction to what Brian Jenkins considered an excessive sentence for his elderly mother. 

“He was a Jacksonville State University graduate and he had no criminal history other than a couple of speeding tickets,” Stewart said. “He was 33 years old.” 

Local attorney Bill Hawkins, who represents both the county and the town of Cedar Bluff in legal matters, declined to comment — as did Probate Judge Melvyn Salter.

Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver could not be reached for comment.

The County Commission was sued earlier this year by Superintendent Brian Johnson and the Board of Education for allegedly failing to abide by a state law to adequately fund the day-to-day operations of the BOE.