KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The family of David Batts Sr., the man who died last year at the University of Tennessee Medical Center after being in Knox County Sheriff’s Office custody, has filed a civil lawsuit against the county.
The lawsuit, which named Knox County and Sheriff Tom Spangler as defendants, was filed Wednesday by the wife of Batts Sr. It contends that jail staff used excessive force and were deliberately indifferent to his medical condition following his arrest.
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Batts was arrested at UT Medical Center on Jan. 7, 2025, and held in an isolation room at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility for more than eight hours before he was taken back to the hospital, where he died the next day. An autopsy determined his cause of death to be Acute Meningitis with Sepsis.
“Mr. Batts’ inability to comply stemmed from his impaired cognition, confusion, and physical instability, not from purposeful resistance,” the lawsuit states. “Instead of diverting Mr. Batts for urgent medical evaluation, jail staff escalated the encounter into a use-of-force event. During forced compliance efforts in or around an intake/holding area, officers deployed chemical spray and repeatedly deployed a Taser while attempting to compel Mr. Batts to change clothing.”…