Myrickv.Fulton Cnty.
The family of Antonio May sued after May died in the Fulton County Jail following methamphetamine intoxication, mental-health distress, a jail intake process, and a later altercation with officers. The appeal asked whether claims against the sheriff, jail officers, a jail medical employee, and the private medical contractor NaphCare were properly dismissed or resolved on summary judgment. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed most of the district court's rulings but revived the case against NaphCare. It held that the record did not support liability against Sheriff Jackson, the officers, or employee Travis Williams, but that the plaintiffs' expert evidence created a genuine issue of fact on whether NaphCare's failure to screen, observe, classify, and treat May properly proximately caused his death. The reasoning emphasized that the NaphCare claim was not just about sedation in the abstract; it was about a broader alleged failure to follow through medically with an obviously distressed detainee, and a jury could credit that theory even with the later officer encounter in the chain of events.
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