DeKalb County Faces Possible $10M Lawsuit Over Recruit Death

DeKalb County has received a letter from the family of a jail recruit who died during training, notifying the government that they may sue the county for $10 million.

The letter was the required first step if someone is considering suing the government, according to WSB TV.

George Ward, died on May 22, 2013, two days after he began training as a jail recruit, Patch previously reported. While officials said the cause of Ward’s death was due to pre-existing medical conditions, a video that surfaced during the investigation prompted the county’s medical examiner to change Ward’s cause of death.

The video shows Ward forced to wear a pink hat and shirt after struggling with some of the physical challenges during training.

In November 2013, Sheriff Jeffrey L. Mann asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into Ward’s death, according to another Patch story. But the GBI’s review of the tragedy found no wrongdoing in the man’s death.

Read Also: GBI Finds No Wrongdoing in Death of DeKalb Jail Recruit

“We understand that Mr. Ward’s family continues to grieve his loss, and they have our sympathies,” Mann said last year. “After reviewing the report, however, I remain confident that this agency acted responsibly with regard to his tragic death and to our training program during retired Sheriff Thomas Brown’s administration. We continue to do so today. When Mr. Ward became ill while training, we responded swiftly, professionally and appropriately.”

But Ward’s family says the county purposely kept them from knowing what really happened to him before he died, WSB TV reports.

“What responsibility are they going to take for killing him, because that’s what they did. They killed him,” Ward’s mother, Lorraine Fredericks, told the news station. “My son was humiliated right before he died?”

DeKalb County has not commented on the letter and possible lawsuit.

»Screenshot from WSB TV of George Ward during training with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s office.