Knox County Faces Lawsuit Over Inmate's Death, Court Reverses Dismissal of 'Failure to Train' Claim
Jennifer Byrum, acting as the personal representative for her deceased father, Ricky Lynn Lewis, has sued Knox County, Tennessee, following his death from a drug overdose while in pretrial detention. Byrum alleges that during Lewis's approximately seventeen hours in the county's detention facility, it was evident he was experiencing a drug-related medical emergency, yet he was denied medical care. Instead, jail staff placed him in a holding cell for over nine hours, where he remained largely unmonitored and untreated, reportedly in pain and covered in his own feces. While the district court initially dismissed all of Byrum's municipal liability claims, the Circuit Court, with Judge BLOOMEKATZ presiding, has reversed the dismissal of the 'failure to train' claim. The court found that Byrum's allegations, supported by jail surveillance video, plausibly suggest that Knox County did not adequately train its jail staff to recognize and respond to drug-related medical emergencies.
