According to a recent lawsuit, responding police officers assaulted, tased, and jailed a man from North Carolina who was unable to communicate due to a medical issue instead of providing assistance.
Regarding the February 2024 incident, Dillon Ledford filed a lawsuit against the Town of Spruce Pine, its police chief, Kasey Cook, and three officers, Michael Hollifield, Michael Sale, and Dalton Mace, alleging that they had violated his constitutional rights and federal and state laws.
After visiting his fiancée, Ledford, who was approximately thirty years old at the time, was traveling through Spruce Pine on his way home on the evening of February 16, 2024.
He says that because his blood sugar was decreasing because of his diabetes, which he has had since he was nine years old, he stopped into the town’s Walmart to grab something to eat.
The lawsuit claims that at approximately 8 p.m., Ledford went into the store, left, and then walked back to his car, where he remained as he felt his physical condition deteriorate.
According to Ledford’s attorneys, staff members who saw him “twitching” and had “buggy eyes” inside his car attempted to speak with him but were unable to do so, so they contacted 911 for a welfare check.
According to reports, Sale and Mace arrived about 9:10 p.m., with Hollifield following closely behind. According to the 58-page lawsuit, they attempted to communicate with the plaintiff but he was nonverbal. It adds that the officers had the option to call for medical aid, which Ledford had not yet received, but they did not.
“At all times relevant, each Defendant-Officer was able to render medical assistance to the Plaintiff, but chose not to do so,” the statement reads.
The cops apparently informed Ledford that he would be detained at this point. Then, “in a three-on-one assault,” they allegedly lifted Ledford from the driver’s seat and “threw” him to the ground. During this time, no defendant was “in fear of harm or danger to himself or others,” according to the lawsuit.
Ledford claims that the officers violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibitions on unjustified search and seizure by using excessive force, which only became worse.
Ledford claims that when he was on the ground and unable to follow the officers’ instructions, Sale struck him at least eleven times, resulting in “great pain and bruising.”
Ledford was then allegedly flipped onto his stomach and handcuffed by the three cops after Hollifield allegedly tased him twice.
“It is well-settled law, policy, custom, and tradition that police officers do not brutally beat and humiliate someone in medical distress,” according to the lawsuit.
According to the plaintiff, Walmart surveillance film shows the entire encounter, and when police searched his car, they found nothing. But instead of being taken to a hospital, he was taken to the town’s police headquarters.
Ledford was accused of three charges of resisting a public official and second-degree trespassing.
According to the June 4 lawsuit, he was a law enforcement officer at the time, having worked as a K-9 officer with the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections for almost three years, and he claims the accusations prevented him from finding work and even prompted an internal affairs inquiry.
Ledford is now requesting a jury trial and damages for his emotional, mental, and bodily injuries as well as loss to his reputation, even though the charges were dropped almost eight months later.
By claiming that “inadequate and outdated” rules, training, and supervision—as well as a lack of policies or “insufficient” procedures—contributed to the “violations” against him, he is not just targeting the police but also their supervisors.
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The lawsuit claims that neither Cook, the police chief, nor the town’s authorities looked into or reprimanded the three officers who detained Ledford.
It goes on to say, “Defendant Cook and Spruce Pine would have found that the Defendant-Officers did not adhere to all applicable state and federal laws regarding the use of force if they had looked into the incident.” Instead, the amount of force applied to the plaintiff was excessive and not justified in the given situation.
Although Seth Banks, the district attorney for Mitchell County, found the cops’ unwillingness to provide medical help to be alarming, he did not find sufficient evidence to bring charges against anyone.
The town attorney allegedly said, “Once the Town is served a copy of the pleading, it will be reviewed and we will respond accordingly,” in response to the local outlet’s request for comment on the complaint.
About 95 miles northwest of Charlotte is Spruce Pine.
