Wife of 72-year-old veteran beaten to death by a cellmate in Alabama jail sues corrections officers
Attorneys for the wife of John Reed say the deputies working at the Macon County jail that morning in October were made aware of the assault but ignored his cries and need for medical attention. Reed required a wheelchair and 24-hour oxygen for a lung disease.
The three deputies named as defendants entered the holding cell where Reed was injured and neglected to separate him from the cellmate during the attack, according to the lawsuit.
'This is one of the worst cases of prison neglect that I've seen,' said civil rights attorney Bakari Sellers, who is representing Reed's wife, Regene Brantley-Reed.
Court records did not list attorneys representing the three deputies on Wednesday. The Macon County sheriff did not respond to a phone call seeking comment.
Reed's cellmate, Daniel Pollard, 24, has been charged with murder in Reed's death. His attorney, Jennifer Tompkins, said he has severe mental health issues.
'In 17 years of criminal law, this is probably one of the worst cases I've ever had in the sense of mental health,' Tompkins said.
Pollard pleaded guilty to attempted murder and burglary in 2022 and was sentenced to a 20-year split sentence, with five to be served in jail or prison, according to his arrest records. He was released on probation in May 2024, according to a spokesperson from the Alabama Department of Corrections.
For Brantley-Reed's Montgomery-based attorney Chuck James, questions remain about why Reed, who had been arrested for alleged drunken driving, was being held with Pollard in the first place.
'These deputies had multiple opportunities to do the right thing and, if they had, John Reed would be alive today,' James said.
The Macon County sheriff's department did not respond to requests for comment about why Pollard, who was arrested for a misdemeanor, was being held in the county jail.
Tompkins said the problem goes beyond the Macon County jail.
'The mental health system in Alabama is so broken that we're not getting the mental health treatment quick enough to prevent crime,' Tompkins said. 'We're creating a bad environment for not only other inmates but for the jailers too.'
Brantley-Reed said she was waiting outside the jail with less than $300 to bail her husband out while the beating was happening. She didn't know anything was wrong until she saw first responders arrive at the jail, she said. She was told by an administrator her husband was dead shortly after.
Reed's beating was so severe that his wife had to bring photographs of him to the funeral director so that he could reconstruct his face for the funeral.
Brantley-Reed said there wasn't a day in their 16-year relationship when her husband didn't make her laugh. Now, his 95-year-old mother has dementia and cries every day when she asks for her son — only to be reminded that he is dead.
'It was just so unexpected and so crazy how it happened that sometimes I can't even get a grip on it,' Brantley-Reed said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
22 minutes ago
- New York Post
CDC shooter Patrick Joseph White's dad repeatedly called 911 fearing he was gunman
The father of the anti-vaxxer gunman who killed a cop when he fired more than 180 shots at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repeatedly called 911 fearing that his son was responsible for the attack, newly released 911 calls show. Kenneth White had begged authorities for help as his son, Patrick Joseph White, was unleashing his reign of terror on the CDC's Atlanta headquarters last Friday, according to transcripts obtained by 11Alive. 'I'm very worried that he might have been involved in this shooting today,' the dad said in one call. Advertisement 3 Documents found in a search of the home where CDC shooter Patrick Joseph Smith lived with his parents revealed his discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations. AP 'I can't get any information from anybody. I've called the DeKalb County 911 number three times and left detailed information, and no one ever called us back. I don't know if he was involved. I need some help.' In another call, the dad specifically asked for one officer to call back given he'd helped with his son in the past. Advertisement 'He has been involved last summer with some problems we had with my adult son,' the elder White said of the cop. '[The officer] had left me his name and number and said if you guys need anything with Patrick, give me a call.' Records show there had been at least 10 emergency calls made from the White family home over the last two years, including for suicide threats and domestic disturbances. 3 Patrick Joseph Smith fired more than 180 shots into the CDC campus in Atlanta and broke 150 windows on Friday. AP It wasn't immediately clear if authorities returned the calls from White's dad during Friday's incident. Advertisement The shooter, who authorities said blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after his rampage. Investigators said White had broken into a locked safe to get his father's weapons before he stormed the CDC's headquarters. CDC security guards had initially stopped White from driving into the campus Friday — so he parked near a pharmacy across the street and opened fire from the sidewalk, authorities said. 3 Police vehicles near Emory University and the CDC campus in Atlanta after the shooting on Aug. 8, 2025. Getty Images Advertisement His bullets broke about 150 'blast-resistant' windows across the campus. DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was fatally shot while responding to the rampage, according to investigators. No one inside the CDC building was injured. In the aftermath, a search warrant at White's home uncovered a slew of written documents and electronic devices that are still being analyzed. Some of the materials 'expressed the shooter's discontent with the COVID-19 vaccinations' and his desire to make 'the public aware of his discontent with the vaccine,' Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said. With Post wires
Associated Press
23 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Norwegian police say pro-Russian hackers were likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam
Russian hackers are likely behind suspected sabotage at a dam in Norway in April which affected water flows, police officials told Norwegian media Wednesday. The director of the Norwegian Police Security Service, Beate Gangås, warned cyberattacks are increasingly being carried out against Western nations to stoke fear and unrest. AP has plotted more than 70 incidents on a map tracking a campaign of disruption across Europe blamed on Russia which Western officials have described as 'reckless.' Since the invasion of Ukraine, Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents ranging from vandalism to arson and attempted assassination. Intelligence officials told AP the campaign is becoming more violent. During the April incident, hackers gained access to a digital system which remotely controls one of the dam's valves and opened it to increase the water flow, NRK said. The valve was open for around four hours but did not pose a danger to the surrounding area, NRK reported. A three-minute long video showing the dam's control panel and a mark identifying a pro-Russian cybercriminal group was published on Telegram in April, police attorney Terje Nedrebø Michelsen told NRK. Similar videos have previously circulated on social media, but the announcement by Norwegian police marked the first time since 2022 that officials have publicly suggested that pro-Russian hackers may have successfully targeted critical water infrastructure in Europe. Gangås told NRK that state actors typically use other groups to hack into facilities to show 'look what we can do if we want to,' before bragging about it afterwards. She spoke Wednesday alongside the head of Norway's intelligence agency at a briefing titled: 'Hybrid attacks against Norway: are we at war?' NRK said Gangås warned such activity is only likely to increase in Norway and other European countries.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Gang members release 11 guards held hostage in Guatemalan prisons
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Gang members released 11 guards overnight who they had held hostage for most of a day in two Guatemalan prisons, demanding that authorities move their imprisoned leaders to other facilities. Deputy Security Minister José Portillo confirmed the guards' release shortly before midnight Tuesday, but didn't provide any details. It remained unclear on Wednesday what, if any, concessions the government made to win their release. Authorities had retaken control of both prisons. Riots had broken out early Tuesday in two prisons in Guatemala City, where the guards were captured by members of the rival Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha gangs. A guard and an inmate who suffered bullet wounds in the melee were evacuated during the course of the day to receive medical treatment. Videos circulated online by the prisoners showed the guards blindfolded with their hands bound. In one, a prisoner read a statement saying the gangs wanted their leaders returned to the prisons where they were previously housed, something Guatemala's interior minister had earlier ruled out.
