Lawsuit claims Alabama man frozen to death while in police custody

The mother of Anthony “Tony” Mitchell, a Walker County man who died in police custody in January, has filed a federal lawsuit against multiple jail officials, including Sheriff Nick Smith, alleging that authorities deprived the man of his constitutional rights by leaving him in the jail’s walk-in freezer “or similar frigid environment” for hours.

“This is one of the most appalling cases of jail abuse the country has seen,” the 37-page federal lawsuit begins. “On the night of January 25 to January 26, 2023, Anthony Don Mitchell (“Tony”) froze to death while incarcerated at the Walker County Jail.”

The case, lawyers for the family wrote in the complaint, “raises an appalling question: how does a man literally freeze to death while incarcerated in a modern, climate-controlled jail, in the custody and care of corrections officers?”

The suit alleges that Mitchell was “likely… placed in a restraint chair in the jail kitchen’s walk-in freezer or similar frigid environment and left there for hours.”

Only with the release of an internal surveillance video recorded by a correctional officer did what happened to Mitchell begin to come to light, according to Jon Goldfarb, a lawyer representing Mitchell’s family. That correctional officer was later fired by the sheriff’s department, according to the lawyer.

A surveillance video obtained and first reported by CBS 42 shows what the family says appears to be their loved one being carried into the loading area of the Walker County Jail. In it, Mitchell is limp, his head and feet dangling as uniformed personnel — “Sheriff” emblazoned on one of their vests — lay his body just outside a marked police SUV. In total, four uniformed officials then work to put him into the police vehicle.

contradicts an earlier statement from the Walker County Sheriff’s Office claiming Mitchell was “alert and conscious” when he left the jail for transport to a local hospital.

this is what they claim is him being “alert and conscious” while being transported to the hospital



The newly filed lawsuit also includes quotes from notes included in Mitchell’s medical records written by an ER doctor after the Walker County man was transported to a local hospital the day of his death.

“I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72° F 22° centigrade while someone is incarcerated in jail,” the doctor’s notes said, according the federal lawsuit. “The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. It is possible he had an underlying medical condition resulting in hypothermia. I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I do believe that hypothermia was the ultimate cause of his death.”

Screenshots from additional surveillance video included in the lawsuit show that Mitchell was naked during his detention. He was placed, the suit said, in a concrete isolation cell for the duration of his two-week stint in the jail.



“The cell lacked a bed or other furnishing,” the suit said. “There was only a drain in the floor that could be used as a toilet. The cell was bare cement, the equivalent of a dog kennel. But unlike a dog, Tony was not even given a mat to sleep on.”

At least five hours passed from the time Mitchell was removed from the “frigid environment” until he was transported to the hospital, according to the complaint.

 

Idk why it still astonishes me how much and how easily cops lie

Why does their word hold any weight in a court of law?

according to them, he was alert and oriented while being transported to the hospital…meanwhile, the video shows him looking like a vegetable

they have no shame and lie through their teeth

How can anyone ever believe the word of a cop?

and of course, they went and fired the officer who exposed them by releasing the video

 

yeah, it’s a few “good apples” that will cover up for and enable the majority bad apples

might as well be George Santos speaking when a cop opens their mouth