A Tennessee mother whose son was having a seizure in his apartment says in a new lawsuit that police and paramedics subjected him to “inhumane acts of violence.”

A mother whose son was having a seizure in his Tennessee apartment said in a federal lawsuit that police and paramedics subjected the 23-year-old to “inhumane acts of violence” instead of treating him, then covered up their use of deadly force.

The death of Austin Hunter Turner was one of more than 1,000 nationally that an investigation led by The Associated Press identified as happening after police officers used physical force or weapons that were supposed to stop, but not kill, people.

The lawsuit, filed this week in federal court, came after AP reporters shared police body-camera video they had unearthed with Turner’s parents, who didn’t know it existed. That footage made the family doubt the official conclusion that a drug overdose killed their son.

Citing the AP’s reporting and many of the details it disclosed, the lawsuit focused on how officers’ own video contradicted the police version of what happened inside Turner’s small apartment in the northeastern Tennessee city of Bristol.

  • brvslvrnst@lemmy.ml
    40·
    3 months ago

    It struck her that officers appeared to ignore they had been dispatched to a medical call. By the end, instead of rushing Turner away in an ambulance, police and paramedics spent six minutes recounting the violence.

    “Gee boys, sure am glad we got this bad guy, he could’ve hurt those ladies in there with all this thrashing around! Don’t you hate when women yell annoying things like “don’t hurt him!” and “he’s having a seizure!”? They just don’t* understand what sickos like him could do to them.”