Man dies from hypothermia after Alabama cops lock him in naked freezer, had been arrested after welfare check: lawsuit

The mother of an Alabama man who died of hypothermia after allegedly being put in a freezer by jail officials as "punishment" has filed a federal lawsuit against the correctional facility.

Anthony "Tony" Mitchell, 33, passed away on January 26 with a body temperature of just 72 degrees.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed by Mitchell's mother Margaret against Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, ten correctional officers, two nurses, and one investigator, Mitchell was put "in a restraint chair in the jail kitchen's walk-in freezer or similar frigid enforcement," where he allegedly sat "for hours," possibly "as punishment for deputies who had 'had a time'" with him.

As Fox News reports, Mitchell had been arrested by the Walker County Sheriff's Office on January 12 after a concerned family member called them over to check on him after he suggested he could "harm himself or others."

During the arrest, Mitchell "brandished a handgun, and fired at least one shot at Deputies before retreating into a wooded area behind his home," where he was finally detained with the help of a SWAT team.

The lawsuit claimed that "while Tony languished naked and dying of hypothermia in the early morning hours of January 26 ... numerous corrections officers and medical staff wandered over to his open cell door to spectate and be entertained by his condition."

Mitchell was eventually taken to the hospital, however, jail officials opted to drive him there themselves instead of calling an ambulance. At the time, his body temperature had dropped to 72 degrees, 22 degrees less than what it should have been.

"I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 degrees ... while someone is incarcerated in jail," Mitchell's physician wrote.

"The cause of his hypothermia is not clear," the doctor continued. "It is possible he had a underlying medical condition resulting in hypothermia. I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I do believe that hypothermia was the ultimate cause of his death."

The lawsuit nonetheless stated that Mitchell's death was "wrongful," and "the result of horrific, malicious abuse and mountains of deliberate indifference."

The jail has not publicly commented on the situation.