As Elliott Williams lay on the jail floor, paralyzed and begging for help, staff dropped water beyond his reach and accused him of faking an injury, a lawsuit claims.
Elliott Williams spent the last five days of his life in a Tulsa County jail, paralyzed and lying on the cold concrete floor. But despite the 37-year-old Oklahoma man’s pleas for help, guards did nothing to save him, a lawsuit claims.
It’s not the first time Tulsa County allegedly risked the lives of inmates. A review of court records shows at least a dozen lawsuits—many of them filed by Smolen’s firm—against the sheriff’s department alleging injuries to suspects and prisoners, as well as deaths over a lack of care. Two of these cases were dismissed, records show.