The widow of a Black man who died after an early morning collision with a deputy sheriff who was allegedly speeding on a rural Georgia highway is suing the county sheriff for negligence and wrongful death.
Dash cam video from Meriwether County Deputy Sheriff Norman Siefken’s patrol car shows it was still dark at 6:09 a.m. on April 2, 2024, when he crossed over a bridge and then smashed into the vehicle of Ronald Moreland, who was turning left at a busy intersection on state Highway 85 in Senoia, Georgia.
Siefken was traveling 67 miles per hour, 12 miles per hour over the posted speed limit of 55 mph at the moment of impact, according to the lawsuit filed in Meriwether County State Court on June 10 (obtained by Atlanta Black Star). The complaint says he was not using his emergency lights or responding to an emergency call.
Moreland, 61, who was on his way to work, sustained severe bodily injuries from the crash and died three days later at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Harry Daniels, the attorney representing plaintiff Octovene Moreland, told Atlanta Black Star. His cause of death was blunt force trauma from a vehicular accident.
Daniels said Siefken suffered minor injuries and was not cited by Fayette County Sheriffs who responded to the accident. Moreland was charged with failure to yield while turning left, which seems to match the dashcam video.
Meriwether Co. Sheriff Dash Cam Video
Siefken “was speeding, and they knew it,” Daniels said. “But they did not cite him.”
The lawsuit claims that Siefken was exceeding the speed limit by at least 20 miles per hour in the moments before the accident as he crossed over a narrow bridge where the posted speed limit is 45 mph. It accuses the deputy of driving in reckless disregard of the safety of others and failing to drive at a reasonable and prudent speed.
“This is about as clear a cut case of police recklessness and neglect as I’ve ever seen,” Daniels said in a statement. “This deputy wasn’t responding to some emergency. He was speeding and driving recklessly, accelerating into a busy intersection without any lights on and he killed a good man as a result. Law enforcement officers are supposed to be making our streets safer, not deadlier.”
Siefken is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which is filed against his boss, Meriwether Sheriff Chuck Smith. Siefken is protected by qualified immunity for law enforcement officers acting in their official capacity, said Daniels, making Smith, his employer, the responsible party.
Smith is vicariously liable for the negligent and reckless acts of Siefken, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial to determine compensatory and special damages to recompense Octovene Moreland for the loss of her husband, including pain and suffering, loss of consortium, funeral and burial expenses, and future earnings.
Ronald Moreland was the sole breadwinner in the family, Daniels said, and he and Octovene Moreland were acting as the primary caretakers of their grandchildren.
“Now she’s stuck with that burden of raising the grandchildren on her own, and has the strain of the loss of her husband, and with the toll that is taking on her, it will be pretty difficult on her,” he said. “No amount of money can bring back her husband, but compensation is quite deserved for the magnitude of his loss.”
Smith, who has served as Meriwether County Sheriff since 2013, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Atlanta Black Star. He has 30 days to file a response to the complaint, or until mid-July.
