The city of St. Paul should have been protecting young people at its rec centers, “rather than having an employee who was trying to kill them,” an attorney said of a lawsuit he filed for a 16-year-old shot in the head outside the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center last year.

The federal lawsuit names the city and Exavir Dwayne Binford Jr., a Parks and Recreation employee who pleaded guilty in the shooting that critically injured the teen.

“I think that the city dropped the ball in terms of making sure that the employees of the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center weren’t themselves a threat to the young people and other visitors,” said Andrew Marshall, an attorney representing Margarita Davison, mother of JuVaughn Turner.

Binford’s employment file “reveals that the city knew he had a history of violent conduct and threats towards minors while working at the city’s recreation centers, including physical altercations and threats that he would shoot children,” said the lawsuit filed last week. “Despite this, the city did not terminate Binford’s employment.”

Mayor Melvin Carter said last year that he learned after the shooting about a past incident involving Binford and reports from community members of other troubling on-the job-behavior by Binford. He announced at the time that the city would undertake “a comprehensive audit of policies, practices and resources pertaining to public safety, staff training and discipline” at St. Paul recreation centers.

Carter’s spokesman, Kamal Baker, said Monday that the city has received the complaint in the lawsuit. “It is under review, and a response will be provided to the court,” he said.

Lawsuit’s claims

The lawsuit complaint gives the following information and makes these claims:

On Jan. 18, 2023, Turner and friends went to the Oxford Community Center/Jimmy Lee Rec Center after Central Senior High School, across Lexington Parkway, was done for the day. Turner, a sophomore at the school, regularly visited the rec center after school to play sports and socialize.

On that day, a young woman got into a dispute with Binford, who was working as the city’s employee in charge of Jimmy Lee, and the dispute escalated. Witnesses told police that Binford was upset that the girl let a relative into the building because it was supposed to be locked after a fight.

Turner stepped in to defend her and Binford, now 27, shot him in the forehead. “Remarkably, (Turner) survived the incident but he was permanently and severely injured,” the complaint said.

Binford had been working since about 2018 as community recreation leader at St. Paul’s Arlington Hills Community Center.

In December 2019, Binford was involved in an argument with a visitor to the Arlington Hills Community Center, which escalated into a physical altercation and Binford punched the visitor several times. Binford told the city’s internal investigators the visitor had a weapon. In a written statement, he said, “I didn’t really know if he had a firearm as he claimed so I reacted out of self-defense in fear of my safety as well for the others.”

The city suspended Binford for five days and instructed him not to resort to violence to deescalate situations, but didn’t provide additional conflict resolution training.

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In August 2022, the city transferred Binford to Jimmy Lee Rec Center and promoted him to community relations specialist, which meant he was essentially the rec center’s “manager” when he was on duty.

The mother of a 17-year-old warned the city in October 2022 that Binford threatened to shoot her daughter and some of her friends after a disagreement when he was working at the rec center. He wanted to kick them out and said, “I will Swiss cheese y’all,” which the mother said meant, “He was going to put multiple holes in them. He was going to shoot them.”

She notified the city soon after and never received a response. “Despite the city’s knowledge of Binford’s threatening behavior, no investigation or corrective action was taken by the city against Binford for his conduct,” the lawsuit said.

Teen’s had numerous surgeries

After Taylor was shot, he “underwent numerous surgeries and other emergency care,” the lawsuit complaint said. Because he was shot in the head, he’s “sustained serious and permanent injuries that will affect every aspect of his life — including but not limited to his physical and cognitive functions, his ability to work and hold a job, his ability to maintain relationships, and his ability to carry out basic day-to-day functions, and otherwise enjoy a ‘normal’ and fulfilling life.”

Taylor’s mother quit her job when he was shot and has been taking care of him full time, said Davison’s attorney, Andrew Marshall.

Exavir Dwayne Binford (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

After Binford initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, with his attorney telling a judge that he had acted in self-defense, he pleaded guilty last month to first-degree assault. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

Binford’s attorney couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.

Davison’s lawsuit claims Binford used excessive and deadly force against Taylor in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment — that Binford had no reason to believe Taylor was armed and “did not have a reasonable fear of imminent bodily harm after the altercation had broken up.”

The lawsuit also says “the city failed to properly train or modify its training for Binford and other city recreation center employees” about “reasonable and appropriate use of force in quelling altercations that arise at recreation centers,” which is “a usual and recurring situation of which the city” knew Binford and city employees encountered.

The lawsuit says they are seeking damages “in excess of $50,000.”

Davison is also looking for policy changes in St. Paul. She “doesn’t want anyone else’s family to go through what they’ve gone through,” Marshall said.

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