MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — The parents of a Monroe County man say he was killed by jail guards who failed to get him proper medical attention.
According to the GBI, 40-year-old Josh Marshall died in the Monroe County Jail on Jan. 15, 2020 after a fight with guards.
His family filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Sheriff Brad Freeman and seven others.
They say that Josh was schizophrenic, but that jail officers failed to take him to a mental facility.
The lawsuit says he died after one guard placed him in an illegal chokehold for a minute and a half.
13WMAZ reached out to Freeman Friday; so far, he has not responded.
The wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Mark Marshall and Marcella Dickenson is asking the court to award them $5 million plus expenses and other damages.
The couple says Mark called the sheriff's office because his son was suffering a schizophrenic episode, and asked them to take him to a mental-health facility.
Instead they took him to the jail.
River Edge Behavioral Health, which had treated Josh for several years, said they could not admit him, the lawsuit says.
Jail officers failed to find another facility for him or give him his medications, his parents say.
They also violated policy by failing to provide a mental-health evaluation, the lawsuit says.
Inside the jail, Josh suffered more schizophrenic symptoms, including punching and slapping himself.
One of the guards, Rustin Hardesty, released him from his cell without handcuffs, then placed him in a 90-second chokehold.
When he released him, the lawsuit says, "Josh was lifeless, limp and turning blue."
But Hardesty and other guards failed to provide any life-saving aid, the lawsuit says.
According to the sheriff's office, Josh died at the Monroe County Hospital.
The family's lawsuit claims that Monroe County deputies are not trained in helping the mentally ill, and "show a total disregard for mentally unstable persons such as Josh."
Josh's death also cost the family more than $19,500 in medical expenses and funeral costs, the lawsuit says.
The county has not responded to the lawsuit.
Jonathan Adams, district attorney for the Towaliga Judicial Circuit, said he reviewed the GBI's investigation of Josh's death and concluded that the deputies did not break any laws.
But that decision did not address whether the jailers violated department policies.
He says he showed Mark the video of his son's death, which showed that the guards were defending themselves.
Adams says it's "heartbreaking" that so many people with mental-health problems end up in jails instead of facilities that are able to treat them.
"I do not fault law enforcement for that," he said.