DOTHAN, Ala. – A Headland man alleging he has been bullied by Dothan law enforcement and city leaders over 26 years is threatening a federal lawsuit.
Samuel Albert Tew, 57, of Headland, has retained Montgomery attorney Julian McPhillips Jr. to help pressure the city of Dothan to settle his claims before a lawsuit is filed, Tew said on Wednesday during a press conference downtown.
Tew, a local paint contractor, notably lost a bid for Dothan City School Board chairman in 2017 to former Mayor Mike Schmitz.
He described a saga that began in 1995 when he was fired as a firefighter for Dothan for accusing a coworker of selling guns out of a local fire station. Since then, Tew’s been arrested numerous times and involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment in a local health facility because he was being targeted by local police, he said, claiming he is the victim of police brutality.
He was most recently arrested at the Dothan Opera House in 2017 for criminal trespassing for trying to attend a city commission meeting. He was banned from several public buildings and public meetings in 2015, which Tew claims is unlawful. Former Police Chief Steve Parrish told media at the time that employees did not feel safe around Tew, but Tew maintains he did nothing wrong and was only there to hold leaders accountable to their employees.
Tew says he suffered several injuries from his latest encounter with law enforcement and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from the 26-year-long ordeal.
