ASHEVILLE — A Flat Rock resident has filed a pro se federal lawsuit against the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office and District Court Judge Emily Cowan, citing violations of her First, Fourth, and 14th Amendment rights as well as the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.
Plaintiff Mackenzie Brown also names five members of the sheriff’s office, a Henderson County Detention Facility officer and a magistrate in her lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 14, 2023.
The legal action surrounds a specially wrapped sheriff’s cruiser, unveiled on Oct. 1, 2021, for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Over the following week, the public was invited to sign or write notes on the car, which was wrapped partially in pink by Advent Health as a donation to the sheriff’s office.
What events led to the lawsuit?
Around 12:30 p.m. the day the vehicle was unveiled, Brown claims she went to the Henderson County Magistrate’s Office and filed a criminal complaint of assault against her then-significant other, Dillon Branch, with the magistrate on duty, Susan N. Oats, one of the named defendants in the lawsuit.