Lawsuit filed over Butler County Jail suicide

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The mother of a Poplar Bluff man who committed suicide in 2014 while being held in the Butler County Justice Center has filed a federal lawsuit against the county and jailers on behalf of her son's estate.

Adam Butch Banks, 31, was found dead in a holding cell May 1, 2014, about 12 hours after he was booked into the jail following his arrest by Poplar Bluff police on suspicion of second-degree property damage.

Banks' cause of death, according to earlier reports, was "strangulation due to hanging" by using part of his jail uniform.

Banks' death was investigated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control and the Butler County Coroner's Office, and it was ruled as a suicide.

Poplar Bluff attorney Steve Walsh filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau on behalf of Banks' estate and his mother, Teresa Ann Weathers Bright, against Butler County and former corrections officers Robert Reed and Adam Younger.

It alleges Banks' right to be protected from known risks of suicide, provided adequate medical care and protected from deliberate indifference to substantial medical needs, as well as due process, were violated under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Missouri's wrongful-death statute.

Banks, according to the suit, was approached by police at his home on a complaint of loud music, and he offered to read Bible verses to the officer.

On April 30, 2014, a new complaint against Banks led to his arrest on municipal property-damage charges.

The day of his arrest, according to earlier reports, Banks had gone to a Poplar Bluff home looking for his girlfriend. When he couldn't find her, he allegedly began beating on the home with a hammer, breaking windows.

The girlfriend reportedly told officers she had moved out of their apartment because of his violent and aggressive behavior.

The complaint says the arresting officer thought Banks' behavior was "so odd," he must have been intoxicated. The autopsy report, however, showed no alcohol or controlled substances in his system.

The complaint also says the officer noted in his initial report Banks was suicidal and noting he had attempted suicide the previous month.

The complaint alleges the officer knew Banks needed medical care as he placed the man on the list to see the jail's medical officer, but did not seek immediate treatment, place him on suicide watch or enter a monitoring order. The officer allegedly didn't put Banks, who was issued pants, in a cell where he would be subject to regular visual monitoring.

The other officer involved in the complaint also is cited for not taking Banks' condition seriously.