The family of a man who died after he was tased in Fulton County Jail is expected to file a civil lawsuit on Wednesday.
Antonio May, 32, was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge on September 11, 2018. The suit claims he was having a "mental health crisis" was on amphetamines and was throwing rocks at the American Cancer Society building in Atlanta.
According to a news release from the law offices of Michael Harper, the attorney hired by his family, May was taken to Grady Hospital for medical clearance after the arrest. However, they also diagnosed him with substance abuse psychotic disorder. He was then booked in Fulton County Jail.
His family never saw him alive again.
According to a report from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office provided to 11Alive by Harper, May, who tested positive for ecstasy, was seen inside the holding cell by a deputy naked and pleasuring himself.
The report said six deputies "assembled" before May was ordered to put his hands behind his back. But he reportedly refused.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said May started fighting with jail staff.
May was tased as deputies entered the cell, and when officers attempted to restrain him "he began fighting and kicking at them, squirming and swinging on the ground…" May was tased two more times on his thigh and then pepper sprayed, the report said.
May's attorneys claimed that witnesses said guards then "beat him with their fists and continuously sprayed a water hose in his face." Attorneys also claim in the suit that jail deputies were overheard by employees and inmates shouting that it was "Taser Tuesday" at some point before May's death.
May died on the scene "in a pool of his own blood," the attorneys said.
"As a direct, proximate, and foreseeable result of the negligent acts and omissions of the Fulton County Jail and Naphcare, Inc. ... in their medical negligence, deliberate indifference, closed fist strikes, excessive force and usage of the tasers and pepper spray as complained of herein, Mr. May suffered excruciating mental and emotional pain up to the time of his tragic death," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit goes on to say that employees were not trained to properly restrain a mentally disturbed person and violated "generally accepted law enforcement custom and practice" in the events that led to May's death.
However, the medical examiner's report said that, according to jail staff, May was "non-combative and talking" when he was moved from the showers to another room where he was examined by an on-duty physician assistant.
That assistant said he was alert at the time but suddenly went unresponsive and unconscious while he was being checked. Mays was then moved to the floor as jail staff said they and later Atlanta Fire Rescue and Grady EMS attempted to resuscitate him.
The death remains under investigation by local and federal authorities.
Harper said his office is filing a wrongful death civil lawsuit on behalf of the family to "seek justice" for May's three young sons.
As such, the suit is asking for judgment and financial compensation for "the full value of the life of the decedent," the mental anguish, pain, and suffering of Mays, funeral expenses and "punitive damages against each Defendant who has been sued in their individual and corporate capacity."
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