On Wednesday, the wife of a 72-year-old veteran who was killed by his cellmate in an Alabama jail filed a civil rights lawsuit against three deputies, claiming the cops disregarded his cries for assistance.
John Reed’s wife’s lawyers claim that despite being informed of the assault, the deputies at the Macon County jail that October morning disregarded his cries and need for medical assistance.
Due to a lung condition, Reed needed a wheelchair and oxygen all the time.
According to the lawsuit, the three deputies identified as defendants went into the holding cell where Reed was hurt and failed to keep him apart from his cellmate throughout the assault.
“This is one of the worst cases of prison neglect that I’ve seen,” civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers, who is representing Reed’s wife, Regene Brantley-Reed stated.
Attorneys for the three deputies on Wednesday were not listed in court documents.
Daniel Pollard, Reed’s 24-year-old cellmate, has been charged with Reed’s murder. According to Jennifer Tompkins, his lawyer, he has serious mental health problems.
“In 17 years of criminal law, this is probably one of the worst cases I’ve ever had in the sense of mental health,” Tompkins stated.
According to his arrest records, Pollard entered a guilty plea to attempted murder and burglary in 2022 and was given a 20-year split sentence, five of which were to be served in jail or prison.
According to an Alabama Department of Corrections spokeswoman, he was released on probation in May 2024.
Chuck James, Brantley-Reed’s Montgomery-based lawyer, is still unsure of why Reed, who had been arrested for suspected drunk driving, was initially being detained with Pollard.
“These deputies had multiple opportunities to do the right thing and, if they had, John Reed would be alive today,” James stated.
Requests for feedback from the Macon County sheriff’s office regarding Pollard’s detention in the county jail after his arrest for a misdemeanor were not answered.
According to Tompkins, the issue extends beyond the Macon County jail.
“The mental health system in Alabama is so broken that we’re not getting the mental health treatment quick enough to prevent crime,” Tompkins stated. “We’re creating a bad environment for not only other inmates but for the jailers too.”
Brantley-Reed claimed that while the beating was taking place, she was waiting outside the jail with less than $300 to free her husband.
She claimed that until she saw first responders arrive at the jail, she was unaware that anything was amiss. Soon later, an administrator informed her that her husband had passed away.
Because of how badly he was beaten, Reed’s wife had to bring pictures of him to the funeral director so he could recreate his face for the service.
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Throughout their 16-year marriage, Brantley-Reed claimed that her spouse never failed to make her laugh.
His mother, who is 95 years old and suffering from dementia, cries every day when she asks for her son only to be told that he has passed away.
“It was just so unexpected and so crazy how it happened that sometimes I can’t even get a grip on it,” Brantley-Reed stated.
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