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Former New Orleans Saints defensive end Glenn Foster Jr. died a “violent and entirely avoidable death” after he was strapped to a chair, stripped naked, Tased excessively and beaten following his arrest for speeding in Alabama, a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by his family alleges.
Foster, 31, died on Dec. 6, 2021, three days after he was detained in a traffic stop when his family’s lawyers said he was wrestled to the ground by law enforcement, hit his head on concrete, and then endured physical abuse once he was at the Pickens County Jail.
“My son didn’t have to die,” Sabrina Foster said during a news conference. “We, as a taxpayer society, are paying their salary, so if they murder us, we are paying them to kill us. If we’re going to pay you, you need to do right by the law.”
Attorney Benjamin Crump said Foster was subdued in handcuffs and posed no risk.
“There is no reason why he was alive in police custody, and 16 minutes later, he was dead,” he said. “We will not rest until we get answers and justice for Glenn Foster Jr. and his distraught family.”
FILE — New Orleans Saints defensive end Glenn Foster Jr. (74) greets fans after practice before an NFL preseason football game against the Miami Dolphins, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Alabama authorities are investigating after Foster Jr. died following a high-speed chase that resulted in his arrest and then a fight involving officers in the jail where he was being held. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
In addition to wrongful death, the lawsuit alleges excessive force and negligence. It was filed in federal court in Alabama and names Pickens County, the Sheriff’s Office, the former Sheriff, deputies, a jail administrator, and jailers. It seeks more than $75,000 in damages.
Representatives from the sheriff’s office and the county did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
The lawsuit lays out the details of the events leading up to and including the death, alleging the defendants’ “excessive and barbaric use of force violated Mr. Foster’s civil rights.”
The events began on Dec. 3, 2021, after officers arrested Foster in Gordo, Alabama, for allegedly operating his motor vehicle recklessly — 92 mph in a 45 mph zone — on Highway 82. He sped away, engaging police in a high-speed chase that ended when officers deployed spike strips, flattening the tires.
The local police agency in the city of Reform called in deputies from the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office to help arrest Foster. One of those deputies wrestled Foster to the ground, slamming his head into the concrete, court documents said.
When EMS arrived, medical personnel told police Foster needed a mental health and wellness check, but law enforcement allegedly refused that request and instead took him to the Pickens County Jail, where he was booked after midnight on Dec. 4, 2021, the lawsuit states.
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The Reform police chief contacted Foster’s family to inform them he was in custody and arranged his bond, court documents said. The family told the chief they had concerns about Foster’s mental health and asked that he be transferred to the psychiatric ward at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for an evaluation. The chief confirmed Foster would be released into medical care as part of his “conditional bond,” court documents said.
When the family showed up the next day, Dec. 5, 2021, and posted his bond, they were told he wouldn’t be released. He had been rebooked on new charges after authorities said he attacked a fellow inmate while trying to steal his socks, the document said.
It’s then that his 24 hours of “torture” occurred, the lawsuit alleges.
Jailers excessively tased him while he was restrained and strapped to a chair. They stripped him naked, choked him and put him in headlocks, the lawsuit said. At one point, he lost consciousness.
Foster died while being transferred to a hospital for a court-ordered inpatient psychiatric/psychological clinical evaluation, court documents said.
Foster, shackled with handcuffs and metal chains around his wrists, ankles, and waist, was pulled by the neck inside the vehicle when he did not move his body into the vehicle, the lawsuit alleges.
Authorities pushed and forced Foster into the vehicle, “but his body does not budge,” court documents said.
Law enforcement pulled Foster from behind, by his neck, into the vehicle, according to the lawsuit. Foster’s family believes these injuries contributed to his untimely death — one of the defendants used a chokehold to force Foster into the transport vehicle, and “Foster never spoke again,” the lawsuit said.
“The moment Mr. Foster is forced into the transport vehicle is the last confirmation that Mr. Foster is alive,” the lawsuit states.
He didn’t move during his ride to Northport Medical Center and remained slumped over in the back seat, court documents said. At Northport Medical Center, his drivers saw him foaming from his mouth and nostrils. His skin was discolored, and he was pronounced dead.
The defendant’s “conduct was so extreme and outrageous as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and was utterly intolerable in a civilized society,” the lawsuit alleged.
Foster’s father said the former New Orleans Saints player in 2013 and 2014 had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and may have been going through a manic episode before his arrest, CNN reported.
