Jerry Lawler Files $3M Lawsuit Over Son’s Jail Death

Jerry “The King” Lawler

Jerry Lawler filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hardeman County, Tennessee and Hardeman County Sheriff John Doolen after his son Brian Christopher Lawler (aka Brian Christopher and Grandmaster Sexay) died at Hardeman County Jail on July 29, 2018, according to The Commercial Appeal.

“Lawler is seeking compensatory damages and punitive damages in an amount to be determined by a jury for the numerous failures of the county and its employees that resulted in the wrongful death of his son,” Lawler’s attorneys said in a statement.

TMZ Sports reported Lawler is seeking $3 million in damages.

Brian was in police custody after being arrested July 7, 2018, on suspicion of DUI and evading authorities.

Lawler’s representatives allege he was assaulted by an inmate on July 28 and suffered “a significant open wound above his eye” and a possible concussion, per Hardiman and Garland. Corrections officers then placed him into solitary confinement, where he hanged himself.

Shortly after Brian’s death, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a statement officers attended to him upon discovering he was hanging in his cell. Doctors were unable to save him after he was transported to a local hospital.

In the lawsuit, Lawler said officers at the scene were forced to use children’s scissors to cut Brian down after being unable to locate another tool.

In August 2018, Lawler questioned the ruling of Brian’s death as a suicide.

“A lot of people have expressed, as I have, doubts as to whether Brian really did commit suicide,” Lawler said on his podcast, Dinner With The King (via The Commercial Appeal). “We’ve been contacted by inmates that were in the jail with Brian that said they don’t believe what was told is actually what happened.”