An Elkmont resident has filed lawsuit in federal court against multiple Limestone County Sheriff’s Office employees, Limestone Sheriff Mike Blakely and the Limestone County Commission claiming he was unlawfully arrested last year, records show.

According to court documents filed in Limestone County Circuit Court, Edward Ronald “Beau” Jones was at the home he shared with his grandmother when deputies arrived at the home in response to an alleged call about drug use at the residence. Court records state no 911 was made that night regarding that address.

When deputies arrived, they entered “with weapons drawn” and used various tactics, including placing a call to “an inmate … whom Mr. Jones had romantic interest in,” to coerce Jones from his bedroom, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, says Jones refused to leave but at one point reached out to pass a phone to LCSO Investigator Jamie King, which is when King, Deputy Jake Abernathy, Chief Deputy Fred Sloss and another deputy entered the room.

“Mr. Jones was beaten and choked to the ground in his room by King, Abernathy, Sloss and one other deputy while being placed under arrest,” the lawsuit states, adding Jones at one point lost consciousness after being placed in a headlock by Sloss.

Jones was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and one count of resisting arrest. However, the lawsuit notes no drug charges were filed and no drugs or paraphernalia were found or taken into evidence at the time of the arrest.

The assault charges stemmed from alleged attacks by Jones on the officers. WHNT-19 reported LCSO told the outlet Jones had “struck deputies twice in the face and once at the head,” while court records reference police reports that Jones “charged deputies with a knife” and “was reaching for a weapon during the altercation.”

“However, body camera footage disproves that claim,” according to a motion to dismiss the charges that was filed Nov. 30, 2020, in Limestone County Circuit Court. “(Jones) never left his room, refused entry to law enforcement, and asked to be left alone. (Jones) claims he was sitting on the far side of the room sanding a guitar. Footage backs up that claim, as you can hear sanding during the interaction.”

Before that night

Arrest reports show multiple interactions between Jones and LCSO over the last few years. In the federal lawsuit, Athens attorney Michael Lambert, who is representing Jones, said Jones had struggled with civilian life after five years of active duty in the U.S. Marines Corps.

Lambert said Jones left the Marines in January 2014 and returned to Limestone County. His marriage ended the following month, and Jones was diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss and tinnitus by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Lambert said.

Six months after his return from service, Jones would appear in The News Courier as one of two individuals arrested for allegedly making methamphetamine in the parking lot of an Athens pharmacy. LCSO said at the time that narcotics investigators had received complaints against the pair, and that surveillance footage showed them spending extended periods of time in the parking lot. When their vehicle was searched, investigators found “items used to manufacture meth,” according to LCSO.

Over the next few years, Jones would be arrested three more times by LCSO — twice for possession of drugs and/or paraphernalia, and once for third-degree domestic violence (harassment). He completed a diversion program related to the drug charges, leading to their dismissal, and pleaded guilty to the domestic violence charge.

The lawsuit says Jones also placed a call to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation about King. Court documents reference testimony from King that he and Jones “did not like one another.”

At the jail

After deputies arrested Jones in March 2020, they took him to the Limestone County Detention Center, where the lawsuit claims Jones was “forcibly strip searched … while a Taser was held to his neck” by corrections officers. During the arrest, Jones had told deputies he’d rather die than be taken to jail again, and “after being booked, Mr. Jones was held for more than a week on ‘suicide watch’ and not allowed to see his attorney,” the lawsuit states.

Lambert further alleges Jones never received mental health care despite qualifying for such under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Court records show Jones was released from the county jail April 5, 2020.

Four days later, a fire was reported at the home Jones had shared with his grandmother. The News Courier spoke with Jones’ father at the scene, who identified himself as the homeowner and said Jones’ grandmother had been staying elsewhere when the fire happened.

Elkmont Volunteer Fire Department confirmed no one was at the home when the fire occurred. According to the lawsuit, Jones’ grandmother had “left her home shortly after Mr. Jones’ false imprisonment because she did not feel safe living alone.”

In the months after, the lawsuit claims Sherry D. Phillips, who served as Jones’ defense attorney in the assault and resisting arrest case, “repeatedly asked the District Attorney (Brian Jones) to drop the case and was told that King wanted Mr. Jones in prison and that it could not be dismissed for that reason.”

Court records show Jones was indicted by a Limestone County grand jury Oct. 23, 2020. Less than six weeks later, Phillips filed a motion to dismiss based on unlawful arrest. The motion noted no evidence of a 911 call prior to deputies’ arrival, the deputies’ failure to announce themselves as law enforcement, the deputies discussing how to remove Jones from the home — including, at one point, an order to “be prepared to put a round in him if he gets squirrelly” — and state court rulings that support the use of reasonable force to resist unlawful arrest.

Limestone Circuit Court Judge Robert Baker granted the motion Feb. 23, dismissing the charges.

Why the Commission, sheriff

The federal lawsuit names 11 defendants: King, Abernathy, Sloss, LCSO Deputy Caleb Ryan, LCSO Special Response Team Commander Rhett McNatt, LCSO Patrol Capt. Guy Simmons, “Correctional Officer John Doe,” “Correctional Officer Jim Doe,” “Correctional Officer James Doe,” Blakely and the Limestone County Commission.

According to the lawsuit, King and Abernathy were the first to arrive at Jones’ home the night he was unlawfully arrested. They were later joined by Sloss, Ryan and McNatt, the lawsuit states.

As for Blakely’s involvement, the sheriff is accused of not only approving of his employees’ actions but helping plan them. The same is said of Simmons, who the lawsuit says outranked others at the scene and suggested they pick up Jones at another time but did not actively intervene that night.

The lawsuit also accuses Blakely and other LCSO supervisors of failing to review the body camera footage that would have disproved officers’ reports and of failing to provide the proper training or manuals for handling inmates with documented mental health issues.

Blakely told The News Courier in February that LCSO was “very progressive in implementing training for both the Sheriff’s Office and jail personnel.” However, Lt. Tammy Waddell has told The News Courier that the detention center and its staff are not as equipped to deal with the mentally ill as they have been asked to be.

The lack of training and resources was cited as one reason why the Commission is also named in the suit, as well as its role in overseeing Blakely’s nearly $9 million budget.

“The Commission has had little to no oversight on the corruption in Limestone County government,” the lawsuit claims.

Limestone County Director of Community Relations Michelle Williamson, speaking on behalf of LCSO and the Commission, said they will not be commenting on the lawsuit at this time.