Cheatham County Deputies Repeatedly Tased Restrained Man: Lawsuit

ASHLAND CITY, TN — Three Cheatham County sheriff's deputies restrained and then tased an 18-year-old who was on suicide watch, according to a newly filed federal lawsuit.

Jordan Norris was arrested on drugs and weapons charges November 3, 2016, and taken to the Cheatham County Jail. Two days later, he "began suffering a mental health episode and was banging his own head against the door" of his cell, according to the lawsuit. Deputies then put Norris in a restraint chair for his own safety and unsuccessfully attempted to stabilize him. Norris was then placed on suicide watch. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Middle Tennessee Patch morning newsletter.)

Two hours later, while the chair was restraining his arms, waist, chest and legs, one deputy — identified in the suit as Josh Marriott — applied "pressure point techniques" and two others — Jeff Key and Mark Bryant — held his right arm against the chair. The lawsuit says Bryant then tased Norris for 50 seconds while he was restrained, while saying “I’ll keep on doing that until I run out of batteries,” according to the suit.

An overhead camera and a camera mounted on the taser itself recorded the encounter (caution: the video may be disturbing to some viewers; the video is mislabeled as being recorded in Texas)

On the recording, a person can be heard laughing and saying "“G------ that kid is being lit up!” and Bryant can be heard telling a restrained Norris to stop resisting.

The taser was applied to Norris on at least three more occasions over the next hour before he was taken to the hospital in a patrol car before being transferred to a mental-health facility, where he remained until he returned to the jail 10 days later.

On November 5, Sheriff Mike Breedlove posted on the department's Facebook page that Norris was "shocked with awe" and "peed a little bit."

Breedlove told News Channel 5 the Facebook page is meant to provide humorous takes on the week's arrests and his message was not intended as a taunt of Norris.

Though he declined an on-camera interview with the station, he said Norris was "strong and out of control" and that, following procedure, his deputies used "dry stunning" — a Taser technique that uses lower voltage and doesn't employ the device's prongs.

Initially, Breedlove said that Norris was "flinching" and not fully restrained, but later, after watching the full video, placed the deputies on administrative leave and requested an investigation by the district-attorney and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

After seeing the media report and videos not previously viewed, I immediately directed supervisors to examine the Sheriff’s Office's current use-of-force policy. I also contacted District Attorney General Ray Crouch Jr. to request an independent investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation," Breedlove's statement said, in part. "As Sheriff, I want our citizens to know that any inappropriate behavior that may have violated an
individual’s rights will not be tolerated. I have place the employees involved on administrative leave while the investigation is conducted. We will work closely and cooperatively with the TBI and District Attorney’s Office to ensure all facts are provided and all angles of this incident are thoroughly investigated."