Police Brutality / Individual record
Dexter Pernell Bethea
Dexter Pernell Bethea, 42, was shot and killed by Lowndes County sheriff's deputies during an attempted arrest at a Valdosta motel on April 8, 2015.
- Record ID
- PB-149
- Incident date
- April 8, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Valdosta, GA
- Agency
- Lowndes County Sheriff's Office
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 42
What happened
On April 8, 2015, Lowndes County sheriff's deputies went to an Econo Lodge on James Road in Valdosta while investigating an alleged drug transaction. According to the sheriff's initial account, deputies were attempting to arrest Dexter Pernell Bethea when he tried to leave in his vehicle and steered toward them. Deputies opened fire, killing him at the scene. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation formally opened a review, planning an autopsy and a report to the district attorney. Deputies reported recovering drugs and cash from the vehicle and arrested other people at the motel. Those separate allegations do not establish the necessity of the shots fired at Bethea. The record is grounded in a GBI announcement, but that announcement mainly relays the involved agency's version and does not itself resolve every disputed fact.
Investigation & findings
Georgia Bureau of Investigation initiated an independent agency investigation and planned referral to the district attorney. No verified final prosecution outcome in this pass.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 330
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Flee status (source)
- car
- Agency IDs (source)
- 281
Last reviewed: October 25, 2026
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset