Walker County deputy agrees to plead guilty to federal charges in arrest of Tony Mitchell
A deputy with the Walker County Sheriff's office has agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to the arrest of Tony Mitchell, who died after spending two weeks "naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces" on the floor of a cement cell.
Carl Carpenter, 55, has agreed to plead guilty to two felony deprivation of rights charges, according to court documents obtained by 米兰体育 13 on Tuesday. Carpenter and fellow deputy James Handley were indicted on those charges back in February.
The two sheriff鈥檚 deputies arrested Mitchell on Jan. 12, 2023, after a relative asked for a welfare check on him. The sheriff鈥檚 office said at the time that Mitchell was talking about portals to hell and asserted that he had fired a weapon at officers.
Carpenter's plea alleges that during the arrest, he threw Mitchell to the ground, flipped him over with his foot, "raised his foot and brought it down with force between Individual #1's legs, stomping on his genitals while saying words to the effect of 'this is how we treat seizures in Walker County.'"
When it became apparent that they would be included in the investigation into Mitchell's detention, Carpenter and an individual identified in court documents as "Officer #1," believed to be Handley, reportedly agreed to tell investigators that Mitchell was resisting them.
Upon arriving at the jail, Mitchell reportedly "could not walk or stand on his own" and was "disoriented, non-combative, and could not follow instructions."
He was housed in cell BK5, commonly referred to as "the drunk tank."
"BK5 depended on officers to escort them to a toilet or shower and relied on officers to bring them food and water," court documents state. "BK5 was notoriously cold during winter months, and the temperature on the bare cement floor was even colder."
Court documents further allege that he was never medically evaluated until the morning of his death, just two weeks later.
Jailers reportedly made several comments about how Mitchell should have been killed so that they didn't have to deal with him and that they would have killed him if they had responded instead of deputies.
On the morning of Jan. 26, a nurse ordered that Mitchell be transported to a hospital as soon as possible, stating that he could die if he was not.
One jailer reportedly responded, "I'll tell you what, next time you're on the toilet taking (expletive), I'll call you to bother you with something unimportant."
Mitchell was eventually transported to Walker Baptist Medical Center Hospital in the back of a patrol car. Doctors would later take him off of life support at the request of his mother.
Mitchell's family filed a federal lawsuit after video came to light showing deputies carrying Mitchell to a car. The family says he spent two weeks in a holding cell and was possibly placed in a freezer. The employee who had this footage was fired by the department.
Carpenter and Handley are the first Walker County Sheriff鈥檚 Office employees charged who were not assigned to work in the jail. Neither is accused of inflicting injuries that directly contributed to Mitchell鈥檚 death.
At least 10 jail employees have pleaded guilty to charges related to Mitchell's death.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.