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Keith Cole

Age : 50

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 09/23/2021

Location : Mississippi Highway 4 near Lyles Road

City : Senatobia

County : Tate

State : Mississippi

Agency : Tate County Sheriff's Office

Officer(s) :Ben Bryok

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during attempted service of protection order and foot pursuit

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/23/2021, Tate County Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Bryok shot and killed 52-year-old Keith Cole in a wooded area near Mississippi Highway 4 and Lyles Road after Bryok stopped Cole’s vehicle and pursued him on foot. Later federal litigation identified Bryok as the shooter and produced a considerably more detailed record than the initial police account.
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The circumstances leading to the stop are more complicated than contemporary reporting suggested. Sheriff Brad Lance initially said deputies had an active domestic violence warrant for Cole. Later federal court records show that Bryok stopped Cole after seeing his vehicle on Highway 4 in order to facilitate service of a protection order connected to allegations involving Cole’s former girlfriend, Danielle Cook. Cole’s daughter later disputed that Bryok knew of an arrest warrant when he initiated the stop.
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The protection order and warrant arose from serious domestic violence allegations. Cook had accused Cole of kidnapping and assaulting her, and another complaint involved damage to tires. Federal court records state that Bryok himself had previously responded to calls alleging that Cole raped and kidnapped Cook.
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Cole pulled his vehicle off Highway 4 near the wood line, got out and ran. Bryok pursued him on foot through residential and wooded areas. Body-camera footage later became central evidence in the federal civil-rights litigation.
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During the foot pursuit, Bryok ordered Cole to lie down and threatened to shoot him if he did not. The federal court found that video and other evidence strongly indicated that two gunshots were then fired from Cole’s location, although the court specifically noted that it was unclear whether Cole was firing toward Bryok or firing warning shots. Bryok continued pursuing him.
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Bryok eventually found Cole apparently exhausted and kneeling or lying in the woods. Body-camera footage showed Bryok approaching to within approximately arm’s length while pointing his gun at Cole. According to the court’s review, Cole stood and made a movement in the direction of Bryok’s firearm. Bryok fired twice at close range, killing him.
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The original public explanation was less detailed. Sheriff Lance said Cole had been lying behind a tree and that when Bryok approached, Cole jumped up. Lance said Bryok could see Cole’s left hand but not his right and believed Cole’s right hand was near his waistband. The sheriff said Cole then made a movement that caused Bryok to believe he was in danger, prompting the two fatal shots.
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Cole’s family contested the justification for the killing. Sheriff Lance acknowledged meeting with the family, showing them body-camera footage and hearing what he described as their “valid concerns” about Bryok’s actions. The family did not accept that the circumstances required Bryok to fatally shoot Cole.
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The case took an extraordinary turn three days after Cole was killed. On September 26, deputies conducted a welfare check at Danielle Cook’s mobile home off Highway 305 and found her dead inside. Her body had apparently been there for an extended period. Later federal court records state that Cole had returned to Cook’s residence after the earlier alleged kidnapping and killed her several days before his fatal encounter with Bryok. Bryok did not know Cook was dead when he stopped Cole on September 23.
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Cole’s daughter, Kellisa Jones, subsequently filed a federal civil-rights and wrongful-death lawsuit against Bryok and Tate County. The lawsuit alleged that Bryok used excessive force in violation of Cole’s Fourth Amendment rights and challenged the county’s responsibility for his death.
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The lawsuit produced an important refinement of the original police narrative because the federal court reviewed the body-camera recordings directly. The evidence showed that the fatal encounter did not simply consist of Bryok seeing an obscured hand at Cole’s waistband. Rather, Bryok had chased Cole through the woods, approached him at extremely close range with his firearm pointed at him, and fired when Cole stood and moved toward the weapon.
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In July 2025, U.S. District Judge Michael Mills granted summary judgment to Bryok and Tate County and dismissed the lawsuit. The court concluded that the body-camera evidence established an immediate threat when Cole moved toward Bryok’s gun at close range and that Bryok’s use of deadly force was objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The deputy who killed Cole was Ben Bryok. His identity, missing from the initial news coverage, was definitively established through the later federal civil-rights lawsuit.
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Bryok had prior direct involvement with the domestic violence allegations surrounding Cole and Cook. The later federal case establishes that before September 23, Bryok had personally responded to calls alleging that Cole raped and kidnapped Cook. This means the fatal encounter was not Bryok’s first involvement in the conflict between Cole and Cook.
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Court records also place Bryok in other Tate County enforcement activity before Cole’s killing. In January 2021, Bryok stopped another driver for failing to use a turn signal, an encounter that later became part of a Mississippi appellate case challenging the legality of the stop. The conviction was ultimately affirmed.
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The Tate County Sheriff’s Office had a serious documented excessive-force scandal in its institutional history. Former Tate County Sheriff’s Lt. Randy T. Doss was federally prosecuted for unlawfully using a Taser against a pretrial detainee who was standing against a wall with his hands over his head and posed no physical threat. The Taser caused the man to fall backward onto concrete, fracture his skull and require brain surgery.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://wreg.com/news/local/woman-found-dead-in-mississippi-after-filing-complaints-against-man-shot-dead-by-deputies/
https://thebeatofthecapital.com/2021/09/28/woman-found-dead-in-mississippi-after-filing-complaints-against-man-shot-dead-by-deputies/
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/mississippi/msndce/3%3A2024cv00297/49831/53/
https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/mississippi/msndce/3%3A2024cv00297/49831/53
https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20250718882
https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-tate-county-mississippi-sheriff-s-deputy-sentenced-unlawful-tasing
https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-tate-county-mississippi-sheriff-s-deputy-pleads-guilty-unlawful-tasing
https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-tate-county-sheriffs-deputy-indicted-using-excessive-force-against-pre-trial-detainee