An Indiana woman who was allegedly shot by a Henderson County Sheriff’s deputy last summer has filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that the actions of numerous law enforcement officers on a July 2025 night led to her getting shot and injured.
An internal investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office, however, concluded that the deputy acted in self-defense, shooting at the car that was being driven at him, according to a court document filed in response to the complaint.
In Timberlynn Floyd’s civil suit filed in U.S. District Court Western District of Kentucky, the complaint says it was an “unjustified shooting of an innocent passenger during a pursuit that the Sheriff’s Office itself determined never should have occurred” and “Floyd now brings this action for the bullet wound she suffered because Defendants ignored their own policies, training, and constitutional obligations.”
The complaint, filed on March 31, names Sheriff’s Deputy Gary Jones and Sgt. Josh Hendrickson as well as Henderson Police Department officers Treg Duvall, Elam Coots, Noah Howell and Lt. Kyle Stone as defendants. The suit also names Sheriff Chip Stauffer and HPD Chief Billy Bolin for failure to train and supervise.
Floyd’s complaint, as well as motions to dismiss filed by Stauffer, Henderickson and Bolin et al, all tell the same general story of the incident that led up to the July 10, 2025, shooting.
It began with Howell attempting a traffic stop of a vehicle of which Floyd was a passenger.
The vehicle with Floyd in it did not stop and continued down Green Street, and when Stone saw the vehicle, he began to pursue it, and later continued to pursue with his lights off, the complaint said.
Soon Duvall also joined the pursuit, and finally Coots joined the pursuit. All had their emergency lights off, according to the complaint.
The complaint states that dispatch told Howell that the plates expiration was not until 2026. And the complaint states that an expired registration plate “does not meet the standard for a vehicle pursuit,” per HPD policy.
After some five minutes, Stone requested a sheriff’s deputy to join the pursuit, and Jones joined “and took over the pursuit,” per the complaint. Then Jones attempted a PIT maneuver, which is a pursuit tactic in which a pursuing vehicle strikes the side-rear of the pursued vehicle in attempt to cause the pursued vehicle to swing around and come to a stop.
After that, the suspect struck a curb in the roundabout of U.S. 60 East, Jones exited his patrol car, yelled “stop” and fired four gunshots, according to the complaint. Floyd “sustained a perforating gunshot would to her leg,” said the complaint.
The complaint also quotes Stone, who said “the first round appears to have been fired while the vehicle was still in front of Deputy Jones,.
But then after that, three more shots were fired as the vehicle passed, according to Stone as quoted in the complaint–“three consecutive rounds discharged from the front passenger-side quarter panel as the vehicle continued past his position.”
Also noted in a quote from Stone was that “the vehicle drove onto the median toward Deputy Jones before veering away after the shots were fired.”
According to an internal investigation by the sheriff’s office, Jones said that he shot at the vehicle that was trying to run him over, said the complaint.
And, the complaint states that “Video evidence reviewed by the Sheriff’s Office shows the vehicle veered away after the shots were fired.”
In Stauffer’s motion to dismiss, the sheriff’s office in its internal investigation, however, found that Jones violated policies regarding emergency vehicle operation, unauthorized vehicle contact, and body-worn camera activation. “
However, the internal investigation expressly concluded that Deputy Jones shot at a vehicle that was trying to run him over, and video evidence reviewed by the Sheriff’s Office shows the vehicle veered away after the shots were fired,” the motion to dismiss said.
Additionally, Bolin’s motion to dismiss said that the HPD officers should not be held responsible for the actions that Jones took, including using the PIT maneuver and then firing four rounds at the suspect vehicle.
Floyd is pursuing relief based upon charges that her Fourth Amendment rights were violated because of the use of excessive force, that officers were not trained and supervised correctly, that Jones caused her injury “by shooting Plaintiff,” that officers were negligent for initiating and continuing the pursuit, and that defendants’ reckless and malicious actions caused her pain and suffering.
In addition to Stauffer, Bolin et al and Hendrickson have filed motions to dismiss. Jones and Henderickson have filed answers to the complaint. All defendants are asking that Floyd’s claims be dismissed.
Read key court documents below:
