Black delivery driver loses FedEx job, more than a year after he said white men attacked him

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This article was published 21/08/2023 (1121 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Black FedEx delivery driver who says two white men shot at and chased him in Mississippi in 2022 has now been fired from his job, he and his attorney said Monday.

“I honestly feel disrespected,” the former driver, D’Monterrio Gibson, told The Associated Press shortly after he received an email from FedEx about his termination.

Meredith Miller, manager of global network communications for FedEx, confirmed Monday that “Mr. Gibson is no longer employed at FedEx,” but did not respond to other questions from AP.

Last Thursday, a Mississippi judge cited police errors in declaring a mistrial for the father and son charged in the attack. A detective testified about failing to give prosecutors and defense attorneys a copy of a videotaped police interview with Gibson.

Carlos Moore, an attorney who has represented Gibson in a civil lawsuit, provided AP with a copy of an email Gibson received from FedEx on Monday. It said Gibson’s employment was terminated July 26, and the company attempted to deliver a letter and documents to him about the termination July 31.

FedEx fired Gibson because he did not accept a part-time, non-courier job that the company offered in mid-July, Moore said, adding that he did not know whether the company gave Gibson a deadline to accept.

“They can’t tell me when I should be ready to come back,” Gibson said.

Gibson, 25, said he has been on worker’s compensation leave, at about one-third of his pay, since shortly after he reported the attack to police in Brookhaven, Mississippi, on the night it happened, Jan. 24, 2022.

Gibson was not injured in the shooting or chase, but he said Monday that he has been in therapy to deal with anxiety because of it. He said he still has trouble sleeping.

Brandon Case and his father, Gregory Case, are charged with attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle driven by Gibson. Prosecutors said they intend to schedule a new trial for the two men, who remain out on bond. A court official said the judge’s docket is full through December.

The chase and gunfire led to complaints on social media of racism in Brookhaven, about an hour’s drive south of the state capital, Jackson.

The encounter happened as Gibson made FedEx deliveries in a van with the Hertz logo on three sides. After he dropped off a package at a home on a dead-end public road, Gregory Case used a pickup truck to try to block the van from leaving, and Brandon Case came outside with a gun, District Attorney Dee Bates told jurors last week.

As Gibson drove the van around the pickup truck, shots were fired, with three rounds hitting the delivery van and some of the packages inside, Bates said.

Gregory Case saw a rental van with a Florida license plate outside his mother-in-law’s unoccupied home after dark, defense attorney Terrell Stubbs told jurors. The elder Case was just going to ask the van driver what was going on, but the driver did not stop, Stubbs said.

On Aug. 10, a federal judge dismissed Gibson’s federal lawsuit seeking $5 million from FedEx, writing that the lawsuit failed to prove the company discriminated against him because of his race. That litigation also named the city of Brookhaven, the police chief and the Cases. Moore said he plans to file a new civil suit in state court, seeking $10 million.

A grand jury issued a report last month saying that Brookhaven Police Department officers “poorly investigate their cases.” The grand jury, made up of local residents, considered more than 60 criminal cases., and wrote that the department is “complacent,” “does not complete investigations in a timely manner,” shows a “lack of professionalism” and “has a habit of witness blaming.”