A lawsuit has been filed against the City of Athens and two police officers stemming from the death of a suspect while in route to jail in August 2020.

Court documents state Allen Ott was suffering from a medical emergency. After officers had taken him to the hospital to be checked out, he was cleared and put back in a patrol car. Ott passed away just 9 minutes later.

Torie Ott filed the lawsuit claiming police failed to observe the signs her brother was in serious medical distress. She is suing for wrongful death, violation of civil rights – failure to render aid, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Athens Police Chief Cliff Couch issued the following statement:

“Police responded to a call and found Mr. Ott disoriented. He appeared to be under the influence of some sort of substance, so they took him to the local Emergency Room to be evaluated. He was examined and released by medical personnel at the Hospital. Officers then took him directly to the jail for public intoxication. When they arrived at the jail, they found him unresponsive. They immediately began lifesaving measures and summoned medical help. Unfortunately, the efforts were unsuccessful. There was an outside investigation conducted by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the case was reviewed by the 10th Judicial District Attorney General’s Office. The investigation found that Mr. Ott died of a drug overdose.”