Ellington

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — The Starkville Police Department has hired a former Columbus officer who is a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit.

The Commercial Dispatch reports Garrett Mittan was introduced as a new Starkville officer during a Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday. That was one day after Mittan voluntarily left his job at Columbus Police Department.

Mittan is named in a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the son of Ricky Ball, a 26-year-old black man shot to death in 2015 by another white former Columbus police officer, Canyon Boykin.

Boykin has pleaded not guilty to a manslaughter charge. He has said he shot Ball after Ball pointed a gun at him.

The civil lawsuit claims a gun belonging to Mittan was planted near Ball's body. Mittan has not been indicted.