Son of woman found dead alongside deputy in Tennessee River files $10M suit:-The son of a lady whose body was discovered in the Tennessee River alongside that of a Meigs County sheriff’s officer has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against the Meigs County government, claiming that the government is responsible for his mother’s death.
Son of woman found dead alongside deputy in Tennessee River files $10M suit
On Monday, Nathan Smith submitted the lawsuit to the Eastern District of Tennessee on behalf of his mother, Tabitha Smith, who had passed away. According to the allegations made in the lawsuit, which is sixteen pages long, the deceased deputy, Robert “R.J.” Leonard, was not “properly trained by the county to know his assigned area of patrol and know the nature of the incident location.”
“The location of the incident has a history of other people driving into the Tennessee River,” according to the lawsuit’s allegations.
According to the lawsuit, Smith is asking a trial by jury and is being awarded ten million dollars to compensate him for the damages that were created by the breach of his mother’s constitutional rights after she passed away.
“Leonard’s inexplicable acts and omissions, despite his duty to protect the deceased, resulted in the constitutional deprivations, physical harm, and the indignity and humiliation of the loss of life and bodily integrity as she died while handcuffed in the back of the patrol car,” according to the legal complaint.
Leonard was texting, driving before the drowning, Smith alleges
According to the lawsuit, Leonard took Smith into custody on February 14 after being summoned to a disturbance on the Tennessee Highway 60 bridge, which is located across the Tennessee River. According to the continuation of the claim, Leonard was able to place Smith in handcuffs and place her in the back of his patrol car in a span of three minutes.
According to the lawsuit, Leonard sent a text message to his wife at some point in time between the time of his arrest and the occurrence. It is possible that Leonard took his last breath as he was using his radio to communicate with the police dispatcher for the county called “Water,” as stated in the lawsuit.
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Authorities discovered Leonard’s patrol cruiser at the bottom of the Tennessee River, where it had been flipped over and was lying in an inverted position.
“The vehicle was nose in, but upside down, wheels up,” said District Attorney General Russell Johnson during a press conference that took place following the event.
Additionally, Johnson stated that the rookie deputy sent a single-word text message to Christina, Leonard’s wife, which read “arrest.” Christopher Leonard was arrested. Despite the fact that his phone did not get the message, she reacted to the text message, he stated.
“As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions of Leonard and the county, the deceased suffered a horrific death,” according to the lawsuit.
Smith, Leonard survived by their children
In accordance with the lawsuit, Tabitha Smith is survived by one kid who is an adult, Nathan, as well as three children who are still minors.
“As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions averred herein, (Nathan Smith) lost his mother, lost any future he may have had with his mother, lost his ability to have a continuing relationship with his mother,” according to the complaint.
Johnson has stated that the authorities are continuing their investigation into the incident in order to determine what took place.
The district attorney general stated, “We are operating under the theory that it was an accident, he missed his turn, he wasn’t familiar, and he was doing other things that may have caused him to go into the water.” This is the theory that we are operating under during this investigation. Additionally, there are some scratch marks and skid marks on the surface. It would appear that he was putting on the brakes or at the very least making an effort to come to a stop.
In accordance with the information provided in his obituary, Leonard, who had been employed by the sheriff’s department for a period of two mo