Mobile police chief defends officers’ actions during raid in Chickasaw

By Brendan Kirby

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A SWAT team raid that prompted complaints from a woman last week was justified, according to Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine.

The raid took place before sunrise on April 12 on 4th Avenue in Chickasaw. The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office initially told FOX10 News that it was bounty hunters but then reported that information was incorrect. It turns out the SWAT team from the Mobile Police Department was trying to arrest a man named Marlon Devaughn Marshall on 12 felony warrants charging him with theft.

Prine said under state law, police officers are authorized to make arrests anywhere in Alabama. He said officers sometimes go into other jurisdictions to make arrests.

In this case, Prine told FOX10 News, a number of clues pointed to a high probability that Marshall was at the Chickasaw address. He had lived there in the past. Mail for him still arrives at the address. And Prine said Marshall listed that address on his most recent arrest.

“We had every reason to believe that he lived there,” he said. “The most recent documents that we had that he listed that address was January of this year.”

Prine said police previously checked out a home on Jewel Court in Mobile where Marshall had lived but found it had been abandoned.

Tobwanna Hampton, who lives at the Chickasaw house, said last week that she and her children were terrified. She said Marshall lived at the house before she moved in but that she doesn’t know him. She also said police handcuffed her and her 13-year-old son and put them in the back of a vehicle.

Prine acknowledged that but defended the officers’ actions.

“I know there was some questions asked as to why we handcuffed the 13-year-old, but you also have to understand that’s a safety reason,” he said. “Once a child – or an adult – comes out, you know, they could panic. They could decide to take up the offense of the person we’re looking for. And they become our responsibility at that point.”

In such a situation, Prine said, someone could hurt themselves or officers, or run back inside and created a standoff.

Prine also said Hampton gave “conflicting statements” about whether she knows Marshall.

“She conceded that she does know the individual,” he said. “We still don’t know what capacity her relationship is with Mr. Marshall.”

Hampton could not be reached Friday to respond to that, but her mother told FOX10 News that she does not know Marshall and even looked at his photo to see if she knew him by a street name.

Logan Bishop, who lives on 4th Avenue and saw the raid, said Marshall has not lived there in about year. He said the officers came in with full tactical gear, rifles and a SWAT vehicle.

“They was even in the back in the alleyway,” he said. “And that, to me is a little bit excessive.”

Prine said the department sends the SWAT team based on considerations that include the seriousness of the crime and the suspect’s history.

“Our officers got into a vehicle pursuit with him in September of 2021, where it was a vehicle pursuit that led officers to that address,” he said.

Prine said Marshall knows police are looking for him. He said the defendant cut off his electronic ankle monitor and remains at large.

“We have every reason to believe that he would either run or he would either fight being captured and so, you know, it is important to understand, you know, our officer safety are of the utmost importance,” he said.

Prine said police ordinarily give departments in other jurisdictions a heads-up as a courtesy before deploying, although he added he is not sure if that was done in this case. The Chickasaw Police Department told FOX10 News it did not get advance warning in this case but deferred comment to the Mobile Police Department.

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