KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A man died Wednesday after he was arrested at a Knoxville hospital ER and booked for an assault charge the day before.
David Batts, 46, died the night of Jan. 8 at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, according to his family.
Lawyer Lance Baker is representing the family and said there is little information about the incident at this moment. He said his death happened after he was "tased and struck multiple times by Knox County officers" at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility.
WBIR 10News reached out to several authorities involved in various incidents surrounding Batts on Tuesday, including the Knoxville Police Department, University of Tennessee Medical Center Police Department and Knox County Sheriff's Office.
According to KPD, Batts was originally involved in an incident involving Knoxville Area Transit on Tuesday. KAT called police to respond to a disturbance. KPD said Batts had taken a KAT bus and ran it into another vehicle in the bus lot.
KAT declined to prosecute, and AMR took Batts to the ER at UTMC for the first time to be evaluated around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7. KPD said Batts appeared to be having a "substance or behavioral health episode."
Batts was then accused of groping a nurse after he arrived at the ER. According to the arrest report filed by a UTMCPD officer, Batts was on a stretcher in the ER when a nurse accused him of grabbing her buttocks when she passed him.
UTMCPD officers arrested Batts, and KPD officers took him to the Knox County detention facility.
KPD said it checked its cameras and found nothing out of the ordinary up to that point, but did cite Batts for having what appeared to be a little over a gram of heroin.
When Batts arrived at the detention facility, Knox County jail personnel said he appeared intoxicated and said he was uncooperative.
WBIR learned jail personnel used a chemical agent and Taser on him at least once to get him to comply. At least one jail employee struck him in the face. Batts scratched one of the personnel on the face and he tried to bite others.
Hours later, medical personnel decided to take him back to UTMC for evaluation. On Jan. 8, family said Batts died in the hospital.
Lawyer Lance Baker said he has represented Batts' family for years. In a media release, he said Knox County officers used a Taser on Batts and hit him multiple times at the detention facility, but said it's unknown what else happened that could have caused Batts' death.
Baker shared photos of Batts in the hospital. He appeared to be unconscious and intubated with bruises and cuts on his face.
Below is what Baker shared with WBIR on Thursday:
"I have represented this family for years, naturally they contacted me regarding this incident. We have little information at this juncture; however, we are going to pursue all the information available to get to the bottom of this and find out what happened to David.
The information we have now is that at some point on January 7 David was tased and struck multiple times by Knox County officers at the Rodger D. Wilson Detention Facility. We do not know what else occurred that would have resulted in his injuries that caused David's death. We do not know the identity of any of the officers that were involved or what, if any, other weapons were used.
We believe the autopsy is going to answer a lot of questions. My hope is that the County will be more cooperative than they have in other cases in the past."
WBIR reached out to the Knox County Sheriff's Office about the incident. It has not responded yet.