Tennessee
Cops accused of standing by and watching man drown in Tennessee River
Police officers allegedly stood by and watched for 15 minutes as a man who relapsed on heroin drowned in the Tennessee River after fleeing from them, according to a newly filed lawsuit.
Kimberly Williams-Clabo claims her son, Mika Wheeler Clabo, would still be alive if it weren’t for the alleged negligence of the Knoxville Police Department, which encountered him “acting erratically” on the morning of July 25, 2022.
Police said that when they approached Clabo, 30, who struggled with a heroin addiction, he ran from them and jumped into the river, where he got caught on vines and drowned.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Williams-Clabo said the four officers at the scene “refused to make a single rescue attempt and inexplicably warned off private rescuers, resulting in the victim’s death by drowning.”
She is suing the officers, as well as the police chief, for violating her son’s civil rights and for wrongful death.
“Mika deserved better than what he got … from people who were supposed to be first responders,” the family’s lawyer, Lance Baker, told the Washington Post. “The first responders were essentially bystanders looking on.”
The Knoxville Police Department denied the allegations and said its officers followed proper protocol during the incident.
“While Mika Clabo’s death was undoubtedly tragic, the KPD officers involved did not respond inappropriately, and the city will vigorously defend this lawsuit,” the department said in a statement.
“The officers immediately called for assistance from additional specialized resources, and any suggestion that they prevented reasonable or safe attempts to rescue Mr. Clabo is not supported by the facts.”
Just four days before his death, Williams-Clabo had reported her son missing after he left a halfway house in the city. Clabo had been working on his sobriety for years but had suddenly relapsed.
Police received calls about the man after residents spotted Clabo being kicked out of a car in the city’s downtown area around 10 a.m. July 25, 2022, wearing only a T-shirt and underwear, according to the suit.
Responding officers found Clabo wandering a nearby railroad track, but when they approached him, the man fled and jumped into the river at about 10:14 a.m.
The officers called the Knoxville Fire Department for rescue and instructed him to swim to shore. The lawsuit states that one of the cops scoffed at the idea that Clabo was drowning.
The suit alleges that the officers just stood by as Clabo struggled to stay above water and screamed for help. It also claims that police warned concerned residents to stay away and not help the drowning man because they could get caught in the vines as well.
By 10:27 a.m., Clabo’s head vanished underwater, with the cops allegedly only commenting on it while not knowing what to do.
“[The officers] acted with no urgency whatsoever throughout the incident to respond to the life-or-death situation,” the lawsuit reads.
When the rescue boat arrived three minutes later, officials combed the area and found the man’s body tangled in vines mere inches below the surface.
Williams-Clabo is arguing for $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $2.5 million in punitive damages.
Tennessee
Hints of drama, yet hope for future as new city commission takes reins in Millersville, Tennessee
May 20, 2024: Meet Millersville’s conspiracy cop. He imagines sinister plots involving some of the country’s most prominent political figures. Taylor recently landed in Millersville as assistant police chief, promising to root out the corruption he sees there. You can continue reading at this hyperlink.
May 22, 2024: The controversy over Millersville’s conspiracy cop has now become the latest scandal rocking the tiny town just north of Nashville. Now, two city commissioners want a special meeting to figure out how Shawn Taylor landed his job. You can continue reading Part Two at this link.
May 24, 2024: An attorney for Millersville conspiracy cop Shawn Taylor has told Millersville’s city commission, whom he also represents, that they should not question the assistant police chief’s bizarre theories or psychological fitness. You can read more of this installment at this link.
May 28, 2024: New podcast video, uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, reveals how Shawn Taylor spread false and dangerous conspiracy theories about last year’s Covenant School shooting that left three students and three staff members dead. You can click here to review that story.
May 28, 2024: Anna Caudill agreed to watch the video of Shawn Taylor knowing there might be only so much she could handle. Among the three children and three adults killed that day was her friend, Katherine Koonce. You can read more of Anna’s story by tapping on this link.
June 3, 2024: First, he went after Millersville’s former mayor. Now, the town’s assistant police chief says his two critics on the city commission could be next. Shawn Taylor made those comments as he turned to a group of far-right podcasters to defend himself. Tap this link to read from those Taylor’s accused.
June 4, 2024: Millersville officials are standing with their assistant police chief and his bizarre conspiracy theories regarding Nashville’s Covenant School shooting. Read how this meeting played out at this link.
June 5, 2024: Bryant Kroll wears a lot of hats. He’s the attorney representing the embattled City of Millersville. He also represents Mayor Tommy Long, who faces accusations of misconduct in an ouster suit. Plus, he’s the attorney for Bryan Morris and Shawn Taylor. To understand the role he plays, you can read that here.
June 6, 2024: In Shawn Taylor’s world — in the immortal words of Taylor Swift — “I’m the problem, it’s me.” I explain how we got here in this piece, which you can click on here.
June 18, 2024: Millersville’s conspiracy cop now has his very own conspiracy-minded attorney. Now, our NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that Todd Callender’s own theories are sometimes even more far-fetched than Taylor’s twisted view of the world. Click here to read more about Shawn Taylor’s attorney.
July 15, 2024: What happens when you give people with bizarre conspiracy theories a gun and a badge? Secret recordings from inside the troubled Millersville Police Department provide a sobering answer to that question. Read more on this investigation by tapping here.
July 22, 2024: In an explosive new development that could bring new trouble for the already-troubled Millersville Police Department, a key player in a child-predator sting says the lead detective on that operation lied under oath. You can read more about that by clicking here.
July 23, 2024: District Attorney General Robert Nash has asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the Millersville Police Department’s handling of a child predator sting, including possible perjury by the lead detective. You can read more about that by tapping here.
July 29, 2024: The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has expanded its probe of the embattled Millersville Police Department, now looking into allegations that officials may have used sensitive law enforcement data to investigate their political enemies. Read more about that by clicking here.
August 5, 2024: With the Millersville Police Department now the focus of a TBI investigation, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has uncovered new questions about the stories that conspiracy cop Shawn Taylor tells about himself. You can catch up on the investigation by tapping here.
August 12, 2024: In a perplexing pair of podcast interviews, the Millersville chief of police says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has begun limiting his department’s access to certain sensitive law enforcement data. Read more about this latest development here.
August 26, 2024: He has helped to fuel some of the wild conspiracy theories inside the troubled Millersville Police Department. He is a self-proclaimed pedophile hunter who believes America is controlled by what he calls “a satanic cult masquerading as Jews.” Read more about Craig Sawyer by clicking here.
August 27, 2024: Craig Sawyer’s response to my investigation illustrates how conspiracy theorists frequently use wild accusations and blustery language to avoid giving real answers about their bizarre beliefs. Tap here to watch as we dissect his 90-minute diatribe.
September 4, 2024: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Millersville Police Department and Shawn Taylor’s home, executing a pair of search warrants as the criminal investigation into the troubled agency enters a dramatic new phase. Read more about this new twist in the Millersville investigation.
September 10, 2024: “No, a TBI agent didn’t pee in Shawn Taylor’s tub, agency says in response to Taylor’s latest claim.” The headline says it all. Click here.
September 19, 2024: QAnon-aligned voices of the far right are threatening retaliation against a judge, a district attorney and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents for their roles in the recent Millersville raids. Details posted here.
October 7, 2024: A well-known Arizona election denier says his group — working through Millersville’s conspiracy-minded assistant police chief — gained access to a highly confidential federal database that tracks Americans’ banking transactions and other financial data. Read the exclusive story here.
October 22, 2024: Two key GOP lawmakers – the chairman and a member of the state House committee that oversees the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – recently warned the agency that it could face “unnecessary political fallout” if it does not end its criminal probe into the troubled Millersville Police Department. You can read the letter here.
October 24, 2024: A letter from two GOP lawmakers, which appeared to threaten the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for its probe of the Millersville Police Department, was the “wrong way to go,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton said. But there is more to the speaker’s reaction.
December 9, 2024: Shawn Taylor, the conspiracy-minded cop now at the center of a criminal investigation, has resigned from his position as assistant chief for the Millersville Police Department after less than a year on the job. Read more here.
Tennessee
Tennessee looks like a heavyweight
Tennessee’s 84-36 win over Western Carolina tonight was a textbook, pre-Christmas non-conference blowout. The Vols looked how you’d expect the No. 1 team in the nation to look against a 3-6 Southern Conference team, barely breaking a sweat in a 48 point win.
Tennessee
New York Jets Interview Former Tennessee Titans General Manger for Opening
The New York Jets offseason is going to be a busy one with all of the vacancies that they have to fill.
Before even worrying about the roster, they need a new regime in place to lead the football operations. While head coaching interviews will begin in a few weeks, the process to replace general manager Joe Douglas on a full-time basis has already started.
The team is going to cast a wide net when it comes to candidates, looking far and wide for the next person to lead the front office.
One of the more popular names that has been linked to the opening so far is Jon Robinson, who completed his interview with the team on Tuesday. The Jets have decided to announce when interviews are completed.
On Monday, New York announced it had interviewed former Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff. ESPN analyst Louis Riddick is also reportedly on the list of initial interviews.
He has prior experience in the position, as he served as general manager with the Tennessee Titans from 2016 through 2022, as he was fired on December 6 of that year.
During his tenure with the franchise, the team had a good amount of success on the field. Under his watch, the Titans were 66-48, winning at least nine games in every campaign before 2022, when they finished with seven.
Tennessee four times, advancing to the AFC Championship Game during the 2019 season before being defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the Wild Card Round, they went into Gillette Stadium and defeated the New England Patriots in what ended up being Tom Brady’s last game as their starting quarterback before heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Robinson has the kind of track record and experience that could appeal to New York given the current situation of the franchise. Whoever takes this job could be staring down a lengthy rebuild, and someone with experience might be able to navigate things a little more smoothly.
Hiring him could also make the Jets a more appealing landing spot for Mike Vrabel, who was the head coach of the Titans during the last five years of Robinson’s time with the team.
The two proved they could build a successful football program and would bring the kind of pedigree that could help get New York back on track after suffering their nine straight losing years and their playoff drought reaching 14 seasons.
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