What we know about lawsuit, timeline: Lavell Lane's in-custody death at Spartanburg jail

The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office is under scrutiny after several in-custody deaths at the county jail. A recent lawsuit alleges a pattern of inadequate medical care and poor conditions at the facility.

The family of Lavell Lane, a man who died inside the Spartanburg County Detention Center in October 2022, recently filed a wrongful death suit against the county and sheriff’s office. The lawsuit claims Lane was subject to inhumane treatment that led to his death at the facility and that employees failed to provide adequate medical care.

On Thursday morning, the county and Sheriff’s office responded to the lawsuit, denying wrongdoing.

The state Attorney General previously declined to press criminal charges related to Lane’s death.

Lane was detained by sheriff’s deputies on the evening of Oct. 2 for walking in the middle of Chesnee Highway. He later died in a holding cell during the early hours of Oct. 3.

Days prior, Lane received anti-psychotic medications on two different occasions. One instance occurred at the jail following a previous arrest, according to multiple documents, including an investigative summary from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, incident reports from the sheriff’s office and the coroner’s autopsy report.

Lane’s death was deemed natural by the county coroner’s office and is officially listed as Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome. NMS is a known, but rare, side effect of anti-psychotic medications.

Here’s what we know about the lawsuit, timeline of events and other key questions.

What does the lawsuit allege?

The lawsuit, filed in state civil court, alleges Lane was subject to inhumane treatment that led to his death at the detention center and that employees failed to provide adequate medical care.

It further claims jail employees failed to research Lane’s medical history to discern whether medication administered to him was appropriate and failed to monitor for lethal side effects associated with the drug.

Lavell Lane Civil Complaint by USA TODAY Network

Lane had a history of mental health issues, including a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type), according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit further claims the jail has a history of failing to provide adequate medical services to pre-trial detainees, which led to prior lawsuits also alleging “unconstitutional and substandard medical services.”

What do we know about Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, Lane’s cause of death?

Lane’s cause of death was listed as Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome by the medical examiner who prepared his autopsy report.

NMS is a rare, but known, side effect of anti-psychotic medications, often called neuroleptics. The coroner’s autopsy report states that Lane’s death is best categorized as “natural” because the syndrome is considered a “known and unintended” side effect of anti-psychotic medications, which Lane received days prior.

NMS causes fever, muscle rigidity, mental status changes, autonomic dysfunction and sometimes death.

According to a toxicology report, Lane only tested positive for chlorpromazine, a drug he was prescribed and had a history of taking, according to the coroner’s report, and aripiprazole, an anti-psychotic medication.

Lane received injections of the Aristada brand of aripiprazole at least twice, according to the coroner’s report.

Lane was “administered” an unknown amount of an anti-psychotic medication by a doctor at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center on Sept. 28, according to the SLED report. The report doesn’t clarify if the medication was administered orally or by injection and does not list the type of medication.

Lane subsequently received injections of 675 mg of fast-release Aristada Initio and 1064 mg of slow-release mg Aristada the next morning at the jail.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that patients new to aripiprazole have tolerance established with oral aripiprazole prior to starting treatment.

The FDA recommends two options when initiating treatment with Aristada: administer one injection of 675 mg of Aristada Initio and one 30 mg dose of oral aripiprazole along with the first Aristada injection or administer oral aripiprazole for 21 consecutive days along with the first Aristada injection.

The coroner’s report states that treatment – stopping taking the medication – can be difficult when slow-release injection medications are at play, such as in Lane’s case.

“Aggressive supportive care for the individual symptoms is recommended,” the report states.

Lane bounced between hospital, jail and assisted living facility days before death

Between Sept. 27 and Oct. 2, Lane visited the jail twice, the hospital four times and also stayed intermittently at Midway Assisted Living facility in Moore. Midway is an assisted living facility that includes housing for residents that need mental health support.

Lane was taken to the hospital twice after altercations at Midway, according to SLED’s report. The report also stated he was in a physical altercation with a patient at the hospital on Sept. 28.

Early Oct. 1, Lane was transported from Midway to Spartanburg Regional “due to suicidal ideation and visual hallucinations.” He told hospital staff he had been trying to harm himself by “jumping in front of cars,” the report said.

Lane was arrested the next day for wandering in the middle of Chesnee Highway. A detailed incident report from the sheriff’s office notes that the caller who reported him was afraid somebody might hit him.

The SLED report provided Spartanburg Regional ER notes from a September 2017 report that stated Lane discussed struggling with suicidal ideations. Lane was later admitted to Patrick B. Harris psychiatric hospital in Anderson, “an acute care inpatient facility that provides intensive, short-term, psychiatric diagnostic and treatment services.”

The coroner’s report states that he underwent a dystonic episode to haloperidol, another anti-psychotic medication, during an inpatient stay in 2017. A dystonic episode is characterized by involuntary contractions of muscles of various parts of the body “in either sustained or intermittent patterns that lead to abnormal movements or postures,” according to the National Center for Biotechnical Information.

What are the next steps with the lawsuit?

Pracht told the Herald-Journal in a previous interview that once the sheriff’s office has filed a written response, discovery will begin to gather evidence.

Spartanburg County Lawsuit ... by Macon Atkinson

“That goes on for a long time,” Pracht said. “It can be six months, nine months of that, and then you start taking depositions after that where we start putting people under oath and interviewing them and really getting more evidence about, specifically, what happened there to Lavell.”

In 2023 there have been three deaths at the jail thus far. There were five inmate deaths in 2022 and a report from Incarceration Transparency found there were 18 deaths between 2015 and 2021, more than any other county jail in South Carolina.

Chalmers Rogland covers public safety for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and The Greenville News. He can be reached by email at crogland@shj.com.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: What we know about lawsuit, timeline: Lavell Lane's in-custody death at Spartanburg jail