Overview:
• A team of deputies attempted to take Adrian Roberts into custody under the terms of an involuntary commitment order that Roberts’ wife had sought for him.
• The deputies said he charged at them with a machete, and one of the deputies shot him.
• Roberts’ wife questions that assertion because the autopsy showed Roberts was shot in his back.
• The deputy who shot Roberts attempted to get the lawsuit dismissed on the premise of qualified immunity. An appeals court denied his request.
More than five years ago, a Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Adrian Roberts while trying to take him into custody for mental health care. The shooting led to a wrongful death lawsuit from Roberts’ wife that is still being litigated.
The deputy, Justin Evans, last week lost an appeal of the matter before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal court’s decision on January 6 to reject Evans’ appeal allows Sabara Fisher-Roberts’ lawsuit to proceed in U.S. District Court. Evans resigned from the Cumberland Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office in November 2021, a spokesperson said.
At issue in the case is whether Evans used excessive force when he killed Roberts on August 18, 2020 and violated Roberts’ Fourth Amendment rights protecting him from unreasonable searches and seizures. Roberts was killed in his home on Summerfield Lane in the Oakridge neighborhood, which is south of the Fayetteville Regional Airport.
The sheriff’s office said Evans shot Roberts as he charged at Evans with a machete. Fisher-Roberts contends the autopsy report showed that her husband was shot in the back.
Evans’ had asked a district court to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis of qualified immunity. This is a legal concept that sometimes shields law enforcement officers from civil liability for actions they take in the course of their duties.
U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III rejected Evans request for qualified immunity for shooting Roberts in a September 2024 decision. Dever said the dispute over the facts as to whether Roberts charged at Evans and another deputy with a machete, or was retreating as Roberts’ wife asserts, is a matter for a jury.
“As for qualified immunity, the court cannot simply accept as true Evans’s statements and testimony given the contradictory autopsy evidence,” Dever wrote.
Evans appealed Dever’s ruling. The appeals court, in its decision last week, said Dever made the right decision and dismissed Evans’ appeal, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
“While Sabara’s evidence is far from overwhelming, it’s more than pure speculation. The autopsy report is material evidence that could suggest Adrian was retreating when Evans shot him,” the appeals court ruling said. Further, the case lacks “video footage or other objective evidence that demonstrably contradicts Sabara’s version of the facts.”
The sheriff’s office began equipping its deputies with body cameras in 2023.
“We are unable to comment on this case, as it remains under judicial review,” Lt. Patrice Bogarty, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, told CityView. “The availability of body cameras at that time would have provided valuable evidence and potentially expedited the review process.”
Wife Sought Help for Her Husband
According to Tuesday’s ruling and other court documents, Roberts was a 37-year-old Army veteran with “a host of mental health disorders” following a head injury during his service in the early 2000s.
These include post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorder, depression, schizoaffective disorder, auditory hallucinations, paranoia, nightmares, and flashbacks, according to the Fisher-Roberts’ lawsuit. Over the years Roberts had incidents of mental instability that led to hospitalizations and he was getting care from the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs, according to court documents.
In summer 2020, the lawsuit said, Roberts’ mental health deteriorated and his wife grew to fear he might hurt someone.
“He experienced severe paranoia and believed that ‘the state and federal governments were spying on and planning to attack him and that [the] neighborhood children were disguised as assassins,’” according to the appeals court ruling, which quotes other court records.
The VA and Fisher-Roberts tried to help him, and the sheriff’s office was summoned several times in June, July and August for wellness checks.
The shooting happened after a VA counselor accompanied by two deputies spoke to Roberts at his home, according to court documents. “Adrian wasn’t violent, but he was agitated and demanded that the group leave,” according to the appeals court ruling.
The counselor advised Fisher-Roberts to involuntarily commit her husband into mental health care, according to the ruling. At her request, a Cumberland County magistrate issued an involuntary commitment order and told the sheriff’s office to take Roberts into custody within 24 hours.
According to the ruling, Fisher-Roberts signed an affidavit that said Roberts was “arming himself with throwing knives, mace and a machete which he keeps by his side even when he sleeps and showers.” It also said Fisher-Roberts “fears for her and the children’s safety.”
The Shooting
Deputies, including several with the sheriff’s Special Response Team, went to Roberts’ home to take him into custody, court papers said. The Special Response Team is commonly referred to as a SWAT team. In a court filing, the sheriff’s office said the team’s duties and training include taking people into custody for involuntary commitment orders.
Several deputies tried and failed three times to get Roberts to come out of his house so the Special Response Team could take him into custody, according to the ruling. After the last attempt, the Special Response Team broke open the front door of the home.
According to court documents, Evans and two other deputies said that when the door opened, Roberts charged with a machete over his head.
Evans fired five shots at Roberts. One deputy said he fired almost instantly, according to court documents. Another deputy described it as “less than 30 seconds.”
How far away was Roberts from Evans when Evens shot? Estimates ranged from 4½ feet to 8 feet.
Fisher-Roberts’ lawsuit said the autopsy report refutes the deputies’ assertion that Roberts charged at them. Instead, Roberts was retreating from the deputies and was shot in the back.
An autopsy report said one of the three bullets struck the side of Robert’s left arm and lodged in the right upper back and shoulder region. Another struck the back of his left arm and exited just below his left collar bone. The third entered his upper left back and lodged in the right side of the back of his neck.
The bullets traveled from Roberts’ left side to his right, and the one that struck the back of his arm also moved from his back toward his front, according to the autopsy.
When Roberts fell to the ground, he landed face up and was laying next to two machetes, according to the appeals court ruling.
Fayetteville lawyer Allen Rogers represents Fisher-Roberts and Roberts’ estate in the lawsuit against Evans.
Roberts needed help from a therapist or other health care professional, Rogers told CityView on Thursday, but instead the sheriff’s office sent an armed SWAT team. There is no video proof, he said, that Roberts “was dangerous and posed a threat to them after they broke into his house where he had secluded himself knowing he needed help.”
With the 4th Circuit’s dismissal of Evans’ appeal, the case returns to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings. As of Monday, a trial date has not been scheduled.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
Did you find this story useful or interesting? It was made possible by donations from readers like you to the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization committed to an informed democracy in Fayetteville and Cumberland County.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donationso CityView can bring you more news and information like this.