A federal lawsuit against Knox County over the 2023 death of an inmate can continue after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court’s ruling.
Ricky Lewis died after being left alone for hours, incapacitated, in the Knox County jail.
The Sixth Circuit on Oct. 8 reversed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan, finding that Lewis’ daughter, Jennifer Byrum, had standing to sue the county over claims that jail staff were not properly trained to handle someone experiencing a drug-related emergency.
Knox News first reported about the death of Lewis, 54, an on-again, off-again addict who called police for help in May 2023 while under the influence of drugs.
He was arrested and taken to the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility,
where he was left alone for hours without medical care as he suffered a mental breakdown, ending up naked and thrashing in his own feces. The medical examiner's office later ruled "drugs/poisoning" contributed to Lewis' "accidental" death.
The lawsuit asserted jailers violated Lewis’ rights under the 14th Amendment, which protects a person from losing their life, liberty or property without due process.
The Sixth Circuit's reversal doesn’t mean the county is liable, only that the part of the lawsuit alleging failure to train jail staff can continue to the discovery phase.
Byrum’s attorney, Dan Stanley, said the family was pleased with the opinion and particularly appreciated the judges including a photo of a naked Lewis thrashing in his cell because of what it shows about the case.
“I cannot believe they put a picture of him in the opinion … I’ve never seen that before,” he said. “I think they did that because it was just so obviously cruel. Who wouldn’t look at that and think that was wrong, that someone dropped the ball?”
Knox County Law Director David Buuck did not respond to a request for comment and a question regarding whether the county will appeal the ruling en banc, a process through which the entire panel of Sixth Circuit judges can review an opinion.
Lawsuit now centers on county’s failure to train
The three-judge panel, led by two Democrat appointees, ruled 2-1 that Byrum’s lawsuit could continue as to the failure-to-train claims but agreed with Varlan’s opinion that the county could not be sued over allegations of inadequate medical screenings, underfunding and overcrowding at the jail. Judge Rachel Bloomekatz, a Biden appointee, wrote the majority opinion.
The judges found, as Byrum alleged, jail staff did not provide Lewis with a medical screening when he arrived, against policy, and staff weren’t properly trained on the facility’s observation policies, which require checks every 15-30 minutes. Instead, Lewis was not observed for four hours and then was left alone for another four-plus hours convulsing in his own feces.
“Jail staff in this case did not even have to guess the cause of Lewis’s condition: he admitted to using drugs when the police arrested him for heroin possession and repeated that he was on ‘meth’ to a staff member who evidently knew he was intoxicated and asked what he was ‘on,’” they wrote. “Still, not one of the staff members who interacted with Lewis earlier in the day regularly monitored Lewis while he was locked in the holding cell or otherwise provided medical care for the acute drug reaction he was obviously experiencing.”
Further, once Lewis was found unresponsive, the judges cited that no staff member called 911 for 40 minutes while chest compressions were being administered. In all, it was a total failure as “at least 10 jail staff did nothing” while Lewis’ condition worsened.
“(T)his was a comprehensive failure to provide medical treatment and follow clear jail policies to screen and monitor detainees with medical needs by every single member of the jail staff,” they wrote.
The dissent, authored by Judge Whitney Hermandorfer, a Trump appointee, argued Byrum didn’t specifically lay out the ways the training was inadequate.
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Email: tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com; X: @tyler_whetstone; Signal: twhetstone141924.39
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Sixth Circuit revives lawsuit against Knox County over man who died in custody
