A new lawsuit alleges that John Neville had brain damage when he was transported from jail to a Winston-Salem hospital, where he later died. The suit filed by Sean Neville says that corrections officials downplayed the seriousness of his father's condition when he was taken to the hospital.
John Neville was restrained by officers following a medical emergency, and video shows the 56-year-old Black man telling them that he couldn't breathe.
Medical examiners said that the cause of death was not his health conditions but the way he was held down at the jail.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday says that a Forsyth County sheriff's captain gave paramedics a note as they wheeled Neville from the jail asking for notification if and when there was a time of death, and if an autopsy was performed.
In the new lawsuit, attorneys allege that the callousness of the note “demonstrated that correctional defendants were more concerned with the potential fallout from their treatment of Mr. Neville, than they were for Mr. Neville's well-being.”
The suit also claims that Neville was nearly brain dead as he left the jail.
Five deputies and a nurse have since been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The family is now suing those six people, as well as Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough and the medical company Wellpath.
In a statement to The News & Observer, Sean Neville expressed his gratitude to Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O'Neill, as well as his sympathy for the defendants.
Kimbrough also released a statement to the paper, reiterating his support for the Neville family.