Lawsuit: Alabama Inmate Froze to Death After Guards Placed Detainee Inside Jail's Walk-In Freezer

Last year, the Department of Justice admitted it does not know how many people die while in police custody. At least 5,000 such deaths have gone unreported in the last year, according to a 2022 report by the Office of the Attorney General.

A lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died after two weeks in police custody says officers at the jail “likely” locked him in a walk-in freezer until he froze to death.

The lawsuit cites surveillance video obtained by the family after a correctional officer spoke out about the incident, as well as the man’s medical report from the hospital.

Anthony Mitchell, 33, was in police custody for two weeks before officers brought him to Alabama's Walker Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead hours later. Police initially said Mitchell was alert and conscious when he left the jail, but video showed three officers carrying Mitchell’s limp body and placing him in a police cruiser.

It does not appear in the video that Mitchell is conscious and at one point the officers, who were not using a stretcher, placed his body on the ground.

According to the lawsuit, Mitchell’s medical records from the hospital state his body temperature registered at 72 degrees Fahrenheit when he arrived at the hospital. Mitchell had no detectable pulse and was breathing 2 to 4 times every minute. An emergency room physician attempted to resuscitate him for three hours but failed. The medical examiner theorized hypothermia was the cause of death.

“I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 degree Fahrenheit while someone is incarcerated in jail,” Mitchell’s medical report says according to the lawsuit. “I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I do believe that hypothermia was the ultimate cause of his death.”

The lawsuit alleges it is “likely” officials left Mitchell in a walk-in freezer or fridge while restrained to a chair.

William Smith, a lawyer representing the family, said they do not have footage of Mitchell being placed into the freezer, but they believe Walker County Jail does, or footage showing what happened to Mitchell.

The correctional officer who first revealed the video showing Mitchell’s limp body being put into a police cruiser has since been fired. She has filed a separate lawsuit against the jail, saying she was fired for speaking out.

The dismissed officer's lawsuit states she was not on duty the day Mitchell died, but heard rumors about his condition during the following days. She says she then checked the security camera footage to find out the “truth” about what happened.

After finding the video, Kelly recorded it on her cellphone. When the video leaked on social media in February, Kelly says she was questioned by jail officials and told them she shared the video with her direct supervisor and another correctional officer at a different facility. She denied sending it to anyone else.

Two days later, according to the lawsuit, she was fired.

The family’s lawsuit also contends Mitchell was left laying naked in his cell on January 25 after being returned to his cell from where he was held in the freezer or another cold environment. Instead of providing aid, several correctional officers and medical staff went into his cell “to spectate and be entertained by his condition.”

The lawsuit shows pictures of the correctional officers standing outside of Mitchell’s cell, appearing to be laughing. It also notes a jail nurse went inside the cell but did not provide medical treatment or call an ambulance “even though [Mitchell’s] severe medical distress is obvious.”

Anthony Mitchell lays on the ground while Correctional Officers laugh

© Alabama Southern Division Court

The next night, according to the lawsuit, another nurse checks in on Mitchell and again declines to provide aid or call an ambulance. It says for the two weeks Mitchell was incarcerated, he was not supplied any kind of bedding and had to sleep on the concrete floor of the isolation cell he was held in until the morning of his death, when a deputy gave him a small pad.

The lawsuit also contends Mitchell was not given any clothing while in police custody until hours before his death. His false teeth had also fallen out when officers tased him while moving him out of a cell. Instead of returning them to him, they kept the teeth in a property bag for holding, presumably for his eventual release or discharge to another facility.

The false teeth of Anthony Mitchell held in a jail property bag.

© Alabama Southern Division Court

The lawsuit includes images and photos of these events, which they attribute to “the heroic corrections officer” –Kelly– who preserved the footage.

Jon Goldfarb, another attorney representing both the family and Kelly in their respective lawsuits, called it “the worst case of inmate abuse I have ever seen,” in a statement to the New York Post.

Mitchell's last moments as a free man were on January 12, when he arrived at the home of his cousin, Steve Mitchell, who says Anthony was suffering from delusions and needed help. Steve attempted to call the local sheriff’s office but couldn’t reach anyone so he called 911. According to the police report from the incident, Anthony fired “at least one shot” at the officers before retreating to the woods.

The SWAT team was then called in and according to the police report they managed to apprehend Anthony without injury. He was charged with attempted murder. Two weeks later, he was dead.

Goldfarb says the next step is for the sheriff’s office to respond to the lawsuit.

“The evidence of abuse would have been buried with Tony Mitchell but for the bravery of a lone corrections officer who made videos of what really happened to Tony and shared one of them,” Goldfarb said. “And they fired her for exposing the truth of this abuse.”