Last year, Jerry Lawler filed a wrongful death lawsuit regarding his son, Brian Christopher, against Hardeman County in Tennessee. The suit alleges that the Hardeman County jail which housed Christopher at the time of his death failed to provide adequate supervision or care.
The trial by jury will begin on Monday, May 27, 2021, at 9:30 am ET. Lawler and his lawyers will appear in court that morning.
Christopher died on July 29th, 2018. His death was ruled a suicide. Christopher was 46-years-old at the time of his death. Lawler has stated to media he doesn’t feel it was a suicide, however.
“It just doesn’t pass the smell test,” Lawler said to Local Memphis. “We’ve received literally countless calls, text messages from people, actual eyewitnesses, that were in the jail and saw things that happened on the actual day that Brian died that now has opened up a new can of worms,” he continued. “It just doesn’t seem like it was suicide.”
Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Hardeman County
Documents relating to the case contend that jail officials failed to provide medical care for Christopher.
“Defendants failed to refer Brian to a doctor or mental health professional at any time during his incarceration and failed to provide him with any treatment for his drug and alcohol issues while he was at the jail despite Brian’s statements concerning his use of various prescription drugs,” the suit reads.
“Brian pleaded with [the jail nurse] and jailers to take him to the hospital,” the suit states. “He thought he had a concussion. He also had a significant open wound above his eye and needed stitches…Defendants, however, refused his requests for appropriate care.”
“The Lawler family has asked me to shine a bright spotlight on all the deficiencies at the Hardeman County Jail, so that changes can be and must be made immediately,” Rosenblum told reporters. “We’re hopeful that [authorities] will come to us and say, ‘We agree that we need to make changes.’”
