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The police are not to be trusted under any circumstances. We know that already. However, even for a gang of low-life, badge-abusing, arrogant, tyrannical liars, this latest story might just be a new low.
According to a report on AL.com, 33-year-old Anthony “Tony” Mitchell was in the midst of a serious mental health crisis when he allegedly fired a gun at police before being apprehended and taken into custody. Anthony’s cousin Steve Mitchell called 911 when Anthony showed up at his home insisting that he must get his stillborn brother’s body from a “portal to hell” in his mother’s attic. Police ensured the family that Anthony would be provided proper care at the Walker County Jail but that never happened.
Instead, officers allegedly used a Taser on Anthony multiple times, locked him inside a freezer and left him to die. Yes, you read every word of that sentence correctly. Moreover, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the family, police began the cover-up hours prior to Anthony being declared dead. They knew that they were going to kill him, allegedly. Sheriff Nick Smith and 13 staff members at the jail are all named in the lawsuit as responsible parties to Anthony’s death.
“While Tony languished naked and dying of hypothermia,” the lawsuit says, “numerous corrections officers and medical staff wandered over to his open cell door to spectate and be entertained by his condition.”
CBS42 obtained a video from the jail that is said to contradict the story that law enforcement officials tried to spin initially as they claimed that Anthony was “alert and conscious” when he left the jail. The video is published below and will warn you that it may be difficult to watch.
Did that man look “alert and conscious” to you? Here’s what the emergency room doctor said about Anthony’s condition after examining him.
“I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72° F 22° centigrade while someone is incarcerated in jail,” the doctor’s notes said, according the federal lawsuit. “The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. It is possible he had an underlying medical condition resulting in hypothermia. 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.”
Sounds like a lot of people have a LOT of ‘splaining to do…
