By Penny Ray / Cherokee Scout
Joshua Shane Long
Attorneys representing an administrator for the estate of Joshua Shane Long filed a wrongful death lawsuit last week against Cherokee County, the sheriff’s office and other relevant parties.
The civil lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Western District Court of North Carolina, alleges that detention officers failed to follow the department’s standard operating procedure, which requires them to medically evaluate at-risk inmates before confining them to jail.
The plaintiff — which is suing the department’s insurance company as well as Sheriff Derrick Palmer, several deputies and detention officers in both their individual and official capacities — seeks a minimum of $25,000 in compensation for damages and legal fees.
County and law enforcement officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing policy regarding ongoing litigation.
“The sheriff and his supervisors failed to ensure that his employees and agents knew about, much less complied with, his safety policy,” the lawsuit says. “There is a longstanding practice and custom at the jail and in the sheriff’s department of violating the written safety policy in ways that shock the conscience.
“As a direct result of the failures, from the top down to the bottom of the sheriff’s organization, Long suffered and died an unnecessary death.”
Deputies arrested Long around 5:45 p.m. July 11, 2018, after receiving a call about a man causing a disturbance. Deputy Michael Faggard found him walking around on Tater Creek Road, according to the lawsuit, which says Long was shirtless, yelling and cursing. The deputy noticed Long place something in his mouth and drink a cup of water before handcuffing him.
Faggard then asked him if he had swallowed drugs, to which Long replied, “No.” The lawsuit says Faggard also asked if he wanted an ambulance to evaluate him, to which Long replied, “No.”
The lawsuit says Faggard later told Sgt. Patrick Williams he saw Long swallow something. Williams then asked Long if he swallowed drugs and whether he wanted an ambulance, to which Long replied, “No.”
Around 7 p.m. they arrived at the jail, where deputies charged Long with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest and other offenses. At that time, Faggard also told Sgt. Frank Daly that he saw Long swallow something.
The lawsuit alleges that detention officers failed to conduct a health screening and appraisal that may have alerted them to drugs in Long’s system. It also accuses officers of failing to notify medical personnel about their suspicions regarding drugs in Long’s bloodstream.
The lawsuit further alleges that a lack of documentation related to Long’s arrest suggests someone tampered with jail records.
“If that happened, it would be an illegal cover-up meant to hide the truth of what Long actually suffered while in the sheriff’s custody and control that night,” the lawsuit says.
Jail officials found Long unresponsive in his cell around 11:14 p.m. The lawsuit says he wasn’t flown to a hospital until 12:40 a.m. July 12, 2018, because a magistrate judge set a secured bond.
“The senior management at the jail and sheriff’s department tried to convert Long’s bond from secured to unsecured in an effort to ‘release’ him from custody in an attempt to avoid paying for his medical treatment,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit says emergency medical personnel noted that Long had a strong pulse at 11:59 p.m. July 11. The magistrate didn’t sign a release order waiving the secured bond until after receiving authorization from the District Attorney’s Office around 12:30 a.m. July 12. Long was pronounced dead at 1:21 a.m. at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“The bond issue delayed his departure by 30-45 minutes,” the lawsuit says. “The autopsy results showed that Long died of methamphetamine overdose. If he had received proper and timely medical evaluation and treatment, this condition was treatable and his death was avoidable.”
In 2018, Palmer asked District Attorney Ashley Welch to investigate activities that happened at the detention center on the day Long died. Welch has since partnered with federal authorities to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against the individuals involved in Long’s arrest and detention. That investigation remains active.
Of the 10 individuals named in the lawsuit, only three are still employed by the sheriff’s office, including Palmer. In a ride-along attended by the Cherokee Scout last year, Palmer touted a complete change in detention center and command staff within the sheriff’s office, which he said resulted in a completely different atmosphere since the day of Long’s death.