A Hanceville man who filed a federal lawsuit three years ago accusing three police officers of excessive force is asking a judge to accept as evidence indictments finding a “rampant culture of corruption” in the department.

Roderick Van Daniel, a civil rights lawyer and the lead attorney for Hanceville resident Joshua Phillips, labeled the Cullman County grand jury’s indictments and District Attorney Champ Crocker’s statement on Wednesday’s developments as “Exhibit A” in a Wednesday filing.

Included in the evidentiary materials are documents stating:

“The Hanceville Police Department has been indicted for present and old police officers for failure to account for, preserve, and maintain evidence, and in doing so has failed crime victims and public at large.

“Further stated that based on the investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation, the grand jury found that the Hanceville Police Department is a particular and ongoing threat to public safety.

“Additionally, there is a rampant culture of corruption in the Hanceville Police Department.

“Also, the Hanceville Police Department has abused public trust by its failure of oversight, lack of leadership and negligent training and hiring.

“Further investigation is being carried out into the Hanceville Police Department and an official audit of the entire department present and in the past.”

Phillips, identified in his lawsuit as a 39-year-old disabled man from Hanceville, accused officers Kyle Duncan, Josh Howell and Lowell Adam Hadder of excessive force, deprivation of civil rights, unlawful arrest and other allegations.

Hadder himself filed a lawsuit against the city in the summer claiming chain of evidence was destroyed after he was allegedly forced off the job.

Efforts to reach attorneys for the officers were not immediately successful.

The attorneys also represent the City of Hanceville, also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which remains pending.

On Sept. 8, 2020, Phillips claimed Howell displayed aggression, slamming his door at a Hanceville gas station while not on official police duties.

Phillips opened the door to the gas station to ask Duncan to write a report because he felt threatened by Howell, but Duncan declined, the suit stated.

Phillips then drove to Hanceville police headquarters to make a complaint against Howell.

The dispatcher called for some officers and Duncan and Howell, now wearing his badge and gun but not in uniform, showed up.

Phillips was told to leave the station or face arrest.

Duncan and Howell told him he did not have a valid complaint.

Howell then allegedly began pushing Phillips in the back “forcefully assaulting the plaintiff,” and Phillips, who warned the officer that he had a bad back, never got to file a complaint.

Howell allegedly pushed Phillips again in the back as Duncan put Phillips “in a choke hold pulling him to the ground very aggressively and forcefully grabbing his neck and on top of his back,” according to the suit.

Howell and Duncan then said they were arresting Phillips for resisting arrest.

Phillips said he was not resisting and loudly asked for medical attention.

He further claimed he was continually pushed while handcuffed until he was placed in a jail cell.

While in the cell, Howell allegedly tried to bribe Phillips with a pair of boots, saying he would give them to Phillips if he took “the charges.”

Hadder allegedly screamed at Phillips, spit tobacco in his face and eyes and backed him into a wall before verbally and physically assaulting him in front of a bail bondsman, the suit claimed.

The lawsuit, amended in 2023, claimed the city ignored Phillips’ complaints.

It accused the city of failing to properly train officers and allowed “this form of egregious behavior of their law enforcement officers.”