Pensacola family engages Cochran law firm after toddler injured in PPD SWAT encounter

Pulled out of a dead sleep by an early morning phone call, a Pensacola woman jumped out of bed and into her car minutes after authorities urged her to quickly come to the crime scene.

The father of the woman's 1-year-old and 3-year-old boys, Corey Marioneaux Jr., had been taken into police custody in front of their children for firing a handgun at a SWAT team officer executing a search warrant at his home shortly before 5 a.m. Feb. 3.

After their dad left the scene in the back of a police car, the boys were left in the care of Pensacola police. While officials contacted their mom, the youngest child fell headfirst out of the back of a stationary patrol vehicle.

The little boy's face smashed against the pavement.

The mother, 24-year-old Moiya Dixon, has retained a Los Angeles-based attorney and is threatening to sue the city of Pensacola and Pensacola Police Department in response to her son's injuries and her belief that police attempted to cover up their blunder by dissuading her from taking her son to the hospital.

"When I got there, I saw caution tape all over the place and police officers. So, I'm frantic. I'm like, 'Where's my children? Where are my children?'" Dixon recalled. "When I got to my 1-year-old, he was unrecognizable. He had bruises all over his face. I couldn't find his forehead. His lips and his nose bloody, it was disgusting."

Pensacola police declined to comment on the matter, citing a recently opened PPD Internal Affairs investigation into the matter.

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PPD spokesman Office Mike Wood said neither he nor Pensacola Police Department Chief Eric Randall would be permitted to publicly comment on the issue until the conclusion of the Internal Affairs investigation.

Dixon's attorney, James Bryant of The Cochran Firm, is representing Dixon in the possible civil case, as well as planning to represent the father of Dixon's children, 23-year-old Marioneaux, in criminal court.

Marioneaux has been charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer for firing a single bullet at a PPD SWAT team member who entered his home in the 2500 block of North Seventh Ave. to execute a search warrant.

Bryant said he will file with the court to become Marioneaux's official lawyer sometime this upcoming week and plans to request that the State Attorney's Office drop all charges against his future client at a Feb. 25 arraignment.

"When the bullet was fired, it was pitch black, and all he saw was the door burst open," Bryant said, arguing Marioneaux lawfully owned a firearm and thought he was shooting at a home invader — not a police officer.

"I cannot understand why they are charging this man who has no criminal history, who was not a person of interest and was not involved in whatever they were looking for," Bryant said. "Why they are trying to pursue these types of charges?"

In a statement, Frederick Longmire, State Attorney's Office director of public relations and professional development, said, "This case remains under investigation. At this time, a filing decision has not be made by the Office of the State Attorney."

Marioneaux's residence was searched as part of an ongoing investigation into a Jan. 22 non-fatal shooting near the intersection of Palafox and Garden streets in downtown Pensacola in which people were injured by bullet fragments and broken glass when bullets were fired into their vehicle, according to police.

The search

The SWAT team that was sent to perform the search of Marioneaux's home was at the house looking for physical evidence related to the Jan. 22 shooting, according to police.

Wood declined to comment on whether Marioneaux was a suspect in the Jan. 22 downtown incident.

According to an arrest report, a PPD SWAT team initiated the search of Marioneaux's residence at approximately 5 a.m. Feb. 3 by "loudly" knocking and announcing "search warrant" for "approximately 10 seconds" before using a ram to batter open a front door.

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Bryant plans to argue in court that the PPD violated its own policy by waiting only 10 seconds, and not a full 15 seconds, before going inside the home, he said.

After the SWAT team entered the dwelling, the report states, Marioneaux fired a bullet that struck an officer's ballistic shield. If the detective "had not been equipped with the ballistic shield he would have been struck in the face/head," the report said.

The detective returned fire at Marioneaux. No one was injured in the incident before Marioneaux put down his weapon and surrendered to officers.

"While being taken into custody, Marioneaux made spontaneous statements in the presence of Detective Skipper (#185) that he was sorry," the report stated. "Marioneaux also made spontaneous statement in front of Sgt. Stockpile #63 that he was sorry for shooting at officers."

The fall

Dixon and Marioneaux's two children — Cylen, 1, and Caion, 3 — had been asleep in their father's room when police arrived, as the parents share custody and split time looking after the boys.

After their father was taken into police custody, Cylen and Caion were taken into police care until their mom had time to arrive.

Although Wood was unable to officially comment on the incident this week, he did confirm the PPD's position on what happened to the boys after the search warrant was executed.

At the time, Wood told WEAR-TV that Cylen and Caion were placed in the backseat of a car with a police officer. The officer exited the car to assist the driver of a large vehicle that was having getting past and maneuvering through the roadway near Marioneaux's residence.

When the officer opened the car door to reenter the vehicle, Cylen — the 1-year-old who police said the officer did not know was leaning against the inside of the door — fell out.

When Dixon arrived at the scene and saw her injured son, she said she spoke to an officer, asking, "What happened to my baby?" she recalled. "How did this happen to my baby?"

"And it was three of them trying to talk to me at the same," she continued, about her interaction with police officers.

Dixon alleged the officers tried to persuade her not to take her son to the hospital.

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"'But don't take him a hospital, don't take him, don't take him because we had EMS check him out,'" Dixon said, in reference to what officers told her. "'He's fine. So, don't take him to the hospital.' So many red flags went up when they said that. Why would I not take him to the hospital when he clearly had an injury to his head?"

Her attorney, Bryant, who spoke on behalf of Dixon, alleges the PPD attempted to cover up their mistake.

"What I really think sort of drives everyone mad about this situation is that you have a number of police officers who recognized that they had dropped this child, a 1-year-old baby, on the ground hitting the cement, and EMS comes out," Bryant said. "And in order to kind of cover up the things that they had done, they canceled EMS from bringing the child to the hospital."

By the time Dixon got the scene, she said it was her understanding that nearly an hour had passed since the time of Cylen's fall, but in the interim, no one had taken the time to properly clean the blood off his face.

Dixon immediately left the scene and took her boys to a hospital, where doctors attended to Cylen. He is not expected to have any permanent physical head trauma.

Randall, the PPD chief, visited Dixon about a week after the incident. She said Randall personally apologized for Cylen's injuries and promised he would get to bottom of what exactly had happened to the child.

But Dixon said Randall's visit is not good enough.

"We're looking for justice as it relates to making sure that the officers who not only injured, severely injured, Cylen are accountable, but that the people who tried to cover it up along with those officers are held accountable," Bryant said.

The attorney added that the officer involved in the incident should be required make a face-to-face, personal apology to the 1-year-old boy.

He was asked about the probability of his pursing a civil lawsuit.

"I mean that is really kind of up to the city of Pensacola and the Pensacola Police Department," Bryant said. "If they want to talk about how they're going to compensate these children for what happened to them, then we can avoid a civil action, but if they choose to dig in and refuse accept liability, I will most certainly be bringing a civil action against them."

Lasting trauma

While Dixon is relieved by doctors' expectations for Cylen to make a full physical recovery, she has concerns their experiences with police have already led to lasting mental pains and trauma.

Cylen had begun walking, taking his first steps on his own, before his fall.

"But now, no," Dixon said. "He's not, he's not even walking anymore."

Cylen was crying a lot more often than had before his fall, and his older brother has had to start seeing a mental health counselor, she said.

When police entered the residence, Dixon said that Caion followed his father out of the bedroom, down the hall and even outside past the group of SWAT team members after he surrendered.

Caion was traumatized by what he said, and Dixon said in the past few weeks, the 3-year-old has taken to repeating a certain same phrase that encapsulates his experience, over and over, on a daily basis.

"'My daddy had to walk out of the house with his hands up and put his nose on the ground. … My daddy had to walk out of the house with his hands up and put his nose on the ground,'" Dixon said.

Colin Warren-Hicks can be reached at colinwarrenhicks@pnj.com or 850-435-8680.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Police may face civil suit after baby falls headfirst from cruiser