The Kimberley Prospector

On Jan. 27, Anthony “Tony” Mitchell, a 33-year-old man from Walker County, Alabama, died in police custody. His mother has now filed a federal lawsuit against multiple jail officials, including Sheriff Nick Smith, alleging that authorities deprived Mitchell of his constitutional rights by leaving him in the jail’s walk-in freezer “or similar frigid environment” for hours.

The 37-page complaint states that Mitchell “froze to death while incarcerated at the Walker County Jail.” The lawsuit includes a surveillance video obtained by Nexstar’s WIAT which shows Mitchell being carried into the loading area of the Walker County Jail. In the video, Mitchell is limp, his head and feet dangling as uniformed personnel lay his body just outside a marked police SUV.

This 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. The complaint also includes quotes from notes included in Mitchell’s medical records written by an ER doctor after he was transported to a local hospital.

The doctor’s notes read, “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 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.”

Screenshots from additional surveillance video included in the lawsuit show that Mitchell was naked during his detention. He was placed in a concrete isolation cell for the duration of his two-week stint in the jail, the suit alleged. Mitchell’s recent interactions with Walker County law enforcement began on Jan. 13, when family members asked police to conduct a welfare check on him. Law enforcement claimed that when they arrived on scene, Mitchell “immediately brandished a handgun, and fire at least one shot at Deputies (sic) before retreating into a wooded area behind his home.” After a search for Mitchell that included both air and K9 units, he was arrested and charged with attempted murder.

The lawsuit claims that Mitchell was deprived of his constitutional rights and that all video of him captured by the Walker County Sheriff’s Office should be released to the public. Officials with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office have refused to comment on the video, instead referring all inquiries to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which is investigating the death. ALEA has not responded to questions about the video as of publication time.

See video on this The Hill article.