Press Release: Federal Magistrate Judge Decides Medina County’s Motion to Dismiss Jail Death Case

Federal Magistrate Judge Decides Medina County’s Motion to Dismiss Jail Death Case

For Immediate Release

San Antonio, Texas – 10/09/2024 — 59-year-old David Tumey was arrested and incarcerated in the Medina County jail in Hondo, Texas. He was clearly seriously ill to all jailers and other who observed him in the jail. In fact, for several days, he likely did not stand at all in his cell.

Mr. Tumey was seen in video recordings over the last several hours of his life, unclothed, apparently delirious, moving around on the likely cold cell floor. He ate virtually nothing, if anything at all, appears not to have ingested any water, and appears not to have used restroom facilities at all for the last hours of his life. It also appears that he was provided no medical care at all, or any medications or other medical evaluation, while he was contained in that cell.

Mr. Tumey died in the cell, designated a “detox” cell, on February 13, 2022. It appears that he was deceased for over two hours, while visual observations of him continued, before someone entered the cell and found his lifeless body which was likely suffering rigor mortis by that time.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) investigated Mr. Tumey’s death. TCJS found the Medina County jail to be in non-compliance with bare minimum jail standards. The TCJS determined that Mr. Tumey had been in the cell for roughly 68 hours without any reevaluation of his situation and/or condition. As a result, the Medina County jail was listed by TCJS as being non-compliant.

Constitutional rights lawyer Dean Malone represents family members and filed a federal lawsuit in San Antonio against Medina County. Mr. Malone said, “Our law firm continues to handle a number of cases in which basic medical care and human decency in Texas County jails seems to be ignored. Written reports regarding Mr. Tumey’s death not only fail to tell the story of Mr. Tumey’s last hours, but they are in adequate to communicate what video recordings of Mr. Tumey’s hours of suffering depict. Mr. Tumey was allowed to remain nude, on the cell floor, moving around in apparent distress, for hours and potentially days on end. People should not lose their right to dignity at the jail house door, and we expect a jury to find that Mr. Tumey deserved more than he received under the law of our land.”

Medina County asked the federal court to dismiss the lawsuit. A federal magistrate judge considered the County’s dismissal motion and recommended that the district judge deny it. A copy of the United States magistrate judge’s report and recommendation is attached to this press release.

Mr. Malone said regarding that report and recommendation, “We are pleased that the magistrate judge has recommended that the district judge not dismiss the lawsuit. Nobody should have to suffer as Mr. Tumey suffered in the Medina County jail, and a jury needs to decide what is appropriate in this case.”

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