$95,000 Settlement for Nashville Jail Inmate Whose Gold Grill Was Pulled From His Teeth at Booking
After trial: The settlement was reached before suit and went to the Metropolitan Council for approval in March 2010. We could not confirm the Council vote or how the payment was divided beyond the $20,000 paid by the jail's medical contractor.
Anthony McCoy was being booked into the Davidson County jail in Nashville in November 2009 when a sheriff's lieutenant pulled a gold dental grill off his teeth, stripping enamel from his front teeth. He then waited about ten days for dental treatment. His attorney, David Raybin, resolved the claim before any lawsuit was filed, for $95,000, with the jail's medical contractor paying $20,000 of the total.
What happened
Anthony McCoy, 31, was admitted to the Davidson County jail in Nashville on November 23, 2009, held on contempt of court for unpaid child support and on related charges. The next day, during booking, jail staff told him to remove the jewelry from his teeth. McCoy wore a gold dental grill and told the deputies it was cemented in place and could not come off.
A sheriff's lieutenant reached into his mouth and pulled it out anyway. The grill took the enamel from his front teeth with it. McCoy spat out blood and pieces of teeth. His lawyer, David Raybin, told reporters that the enamel on four of his front teeth had been ripped away.
The damage did not get immediate attention. McCoy asked repeatedly for care and was given Tylenol, and he waited about ten days before a dentist treated him. Raybin said his client's mouth was still damaged months later, when the case reached the public. He was later convicted on the harassment charges, but the dental claim rested on how the jail handled him at booking and afterward, not on why he was there.
The jail's own rules were part of the problem for the county. A legal analysis prepared for the Metropolitan Council concluded that the lieutenant had violated Davidson County jail policy. She was demoted and suspended for five days, and the Sheriff's Department adopted a new policy barring jailers from removing inmates' grills.
Raybin, of Raybin & Weissman, represented McCoy and did not need to file suit. Metro's legal staff recommended a pre-litigation settlement of $95,000, which went to the Metropolitan Council for approval in March 2010. Correct Care Solutions, the contractor that provided medical care at the jail, agreed to pay $20,000 of that figure over the delay in treating his teeth. The reports reviewed do not itemize the city's share beyond that, and they describe the Council vote only as scheduled, not as reported.
The claim resolved about four months after the incident without a lawsuit. The county had its own staff analysis finding a policy violation, the lieutenant had already been disciplined, and McCoy, who was released from jail on February 2, 2010, received payment through a negotiated settlement instead of waiting on litigation. Both the city and the jail contractor were involved in funding it.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.NBC News/AP, 'Grill ripped from man's teeth at Tenn. jail', March 2010·Archived copy
- 2.CBS News, 'Cop rips blinged-out grill from man's teeth at Tenn. jail', March 16, 2010·Archived copy
- 3.Prison Legal News, 'Grill removal results in $95,000 settlement by Tennessee jail', November 2010·Archived copy
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