The family of a mentally ill man who died in police custody claim his loved one froze to death after being held for hours and placed in a walk-in freezer.
Anthony Mitchell’s family has filed a lawsuit in Walker County, Alabama, after the man died on January 26 – two weeks after he was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly threatening to harm himself and others.
“This is one of the most appalling cases of prison abuse the country has seen,” claims the 37-page federal lawsuit filed by the family.
Shocking video of Mitchell, who was carried out of jail on January 26, shows the man being dragged and placed in a squad car before he was later pronounced dead.
The video allegedly contradicts the sheriff’s original statement that Mitchell had a medical problem but was “alert and responsive” when he was taken to the hospital.
Anthony Mitchell, 33, who died in police custody on January 26 in Walker County, Alabama. Mitchell’s family alleges law enforcement held the man and left him in a freezer or “similarly cold environment,” which caused him to freeze to death
The complaint filed by the family alleges hospital staff at Walker Baptist Medical Center tried to revive him for three hours before he was pronounced dead.
The doctor said the man’s cause of death was hypothermia.
The doctor also notes the enigmatic nature of death.
“I’m not sure under what circumstances the patient was incarcerated, but it’s difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 degrees F, 22 degrees Celsius while someone is incarcerated in prison,” the lawsuit says.
“The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. I don’t know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I believe hypothermia was the ultimate cause of death.”
Lawyers for the family had similar questions to the doctor’s, asking how he would have frozen in prison.
“How does a man literally freeze to death while confined in a modern, air-conditioned prison in the care and custody of correctional officers?” asked the lawyers.
reached out to the Walker County Coroner’s Office to confirm the man’s cause of death, but received no response.
Lawyers for Mitchell’s family say law enforcement originally said the man was alert and responsive when he was taken to the hospital. The published video apparently contradicts this information
Video shows Mitchell being dragged into a squad car and lifted before being taken to the hospital, where he is later pronounced dead
The man’s body appeared limp in a video released by a local media outlet
Inside her suit, Mitchell’s family claims he was stripped naked and placed in a concrete isolation cell for the time he was there.
They also claim that five hours have passed since Mitchell was removed from the “icy environment” until he was taken to the hospital.
“The cell lacked a bed or other furnishings,” the suit reads. “There was only one drain in the floor that could be used as a toilet. The cell was bare cement, the equivalent of a doghouse. But unlike a dog, Tony wasn’t even given a mat to sleep on.’
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is currently investigating the man’s death.
Mitchell was initially arrested on January 13 after his family members called the police and reported his erratic behavior.
When deputies arrived, they found Mitchell in the front yard and said he immediately pulled out a pistol and fired at least one shot at her.
The man ran into a nearby forest and was hiding in a shed when they tracked him down.
“This situation could have ended very differently were it not for the constant training of our department, the incredible work of our dispatchers, the support of other agencies, and the prompt response of District Attorney Bill Adair’s office,” law enforcement said in a post on Facebook.
“Thankfully the day ended with everyone safe,” the post continued.
Mitchell was sentenced to the Walker County Jail for attempted murder.
This is a snapshot from a Walker County Jail video showing a naked inmate, allegedly Mitchell
Mitchell’s family claims he was naked and locked in a concrete cell for two weeks after his arrest
This is another photo from the day Mitchell was arrested in Walker County, Alabama
On the day of his arrest, Mitchell was produced before a judge and found, according to court records, “unable to sign papers.”
A family member said they believed prison would be a safe place for the man.
“We knew he was in prison and thought that was the safest place for him at the time,” said a family member. “But it turned out to be the worst place for him.”
Officials at the Walker County Sheriff’s Office did not initially respond to questions about Mitchell’s death, but after WIAT reported his death in police custody, the Sheriff’s Office released a statement on the situation. As in most Alabama counties, the local jail is operated by the sheriff’s office.
In a statement following his death, the Walker County Sheriff’s Office released a statement detailing Mitchell’s death in the custody of law enforcement.
“On Thursday, January 27, an inmate at the Walker County Jail underwent a routine medical examination by the jail’s medical staff,” the statement begins.
“Medical staff determined that the inmate needed to be taken to the hospital for further evaluation.
“The inmate was awake and conscious when he exited the facility and arrived at the hospital. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the inmate suffered a medical emergency and was unresponsive.
“Life-saving efforts were carried out by hospital staff and the inmate was eventually resuscitated. Unfortunately, the prisoner died a short time later,” the statement concludes.
This is Anthony Mitchell in a photo from several years before his death
Photos and video in the lawsuit show a patient naked and surrounded by prison staff
This is the Walker County jail where Mitchell “froze to death.”
TJ Armstrong, the sheriff’s office public information officer, said last week that the department is not commenting on the situation at this time following the video’s release.
Officials with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency have not commented on the investigation at this time.
Karen Kelly, a correctional officer who took some of the internal surveillance footage that showed Mitchell “unconscious and nearly dead,” was subsequently fired by Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith.
She’s also now suing the sheriff’s office, claiming she shared the video to “make sure the truth of what happened to Mitchell doesn’t go to his grave with him,” but the sheriff’s office “retaliated and fired her.” “.
In her 20-page lawsuit, Kelly alleges that officers called her in as part of an investigation into a leaked video.
She admitted that she shared a video of Mitchell with two people — another Walker County Sheriff’s Office employee and a second person who was “also in law enforcement.”
When asked why she leaked the video to someone outside of the agency, Kelly replied that she was forced to “share the truth.”
Jon Goldfarb, an attorney for Mitchell’s family, said he believes local law enforcement should release all photos and videos relevant to the case to be truly transparent.
“If the sheriff has nothing to hide, all videos of Mr. Anthony Mitchell should be preserved and made available to the public,” the attorney said in part.
Correctional Officer Karen Kelly is suing the Walker County Sheriff’s Office after her job was terminated, claiming she was released “in retaliation” for sharing a video of Anthony Mitchell