A Black FedEx driver who was shot at and chased by two white men during a delivery in Mississippi has been terminated from his job a year later. D’Monterrio Gibson, 25, lost his job after not accepting a part-time, non-courier position the company had offered in July 2023, according to CNN.
This development comes after a judge declared a mistrial in Gibson’s criminal case against the father and son who shot at him while he was on duty.
Carlos Moore, an attorney representing Gibson in a civil lawsuit against the fourth largest employer on the Fortune 500 list, said his client’s letter of termination was emailed to him.
The Associated Press verified the termination with Meredith Miller, the manager of global network communications for FedEx. On July 31, days after receiving notification of his termination, FedEx attempted to deliver the letter of notification and other documents to Gibson, but were unsuccessful.
Gibson said he felt “disrespected” by the decision. Since 2022, he had been on worker’s compensation leave, receiving about one-third of his pay. He took the leave after he reported to law enforcement the incident he experienced with Brandon and Gregory Case on Jan. 24, 2022, in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
“Mr. Gibson did not accept an offer of a part-time nondriving position which met his requested accommodations and, unfortunately, despite outreach from company representatives over the course of a year and half, he did not engage in the process of looking for a new position within the FedEx enterprise,” Miller said in an email obtained by the Post.
Moore said his client did not have the “mental capacity” to return to work while undergoing psychological treatment as a result of the incident. “He didn’t feel that they should unilaterally decide when he gets back to work when he is still undergoing medical treatment. He has not been cleared to go back to work by a physician,” said Moore of his client.
Gibson told his manager and police that the father-and-son duo attacked him while he was delivering packages to a house on their property on a dead-end public road. He was in a rented Hertz delivery van and not an official FedEx vehicle.
First, one of the men tried to box him in with a pickup truck while he was on the grounds, then as he drove away the other man pulled his gun out, firing and striking the vehicle, leaving holes in the van and parcels inside.
The young man immediately called his job, speaking to a supervisor, even before calling the police.
Moore says his client, when he was still employed, filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against FedEx, which alleged the company violated his civil rights because of his race and did not care about the trauma he experienced while on the clock.
On Aug. 10, a federal judge dismissed the complaint, saying Gibson’s legal team failed to establish their client was experiencing race-based discrimination by the employer.
Despite the tossing out of the lawsuit, which also named the city of Brookhaven, Moore contends he will be filing a new civil suit and is doubling the amount he was seeking in damages to $10 million.
On Aug. 17, a Mississippi judge criticized the negligent handling of the case by local law enforcement. This includes a detective’s testimony about withholding a copy of a videotaped police interview with Gibson, which happened after the alleged incident.
The Case men, who are currently free on bond, face charges of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting at Gibson’s vehicle. Despite the mistrial setback, the prosecution plans to arrange a new trial, but scheduling will be delayed until December 2023 due to the judge’s busy calendar.
