County: Thomas filed suit too late

The attorney for Bedford County has responded to a lawsuit filed by a man who claims harassment and false arrest by sheriff's deputies, saying that the statute of limitations in regards to the suit has expired.

On Feb. 2, John Darron Thomas filed a $6 million federal lawsuit against the county, the Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Randall Boyce and Deputies Benjamin Burris, Kent Jacobs and Kevin Roddy.

He has claimed that he is a victim of excessive force, cruel and unusual punishment, malicious prosecution, wrongful arrest, assault and battery, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, kidnapping, false imprisonment and civil conspiracy.

The suit focuses on a DUI arrest involving Thomas on June 25, 2008 on Clyde Gleaves Road, but the county's attorney, W. Carl Spining, points out that the statute of limitations "bars all causes of action pled in the Complaint."

The statute of limitations is a law that places a time limit on pursuing a legal remedy in relation to wrongful conduct. In Tennessee, the limit is one year in most cases.

The filing by Spining states that Thomas "was lawfully arrested for Driving Under the Influence" and denies that he has any cause of action for the alleged violations.

Spining says that his clients also "aver Absolute Immunity, Qualified Immunity and the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act" as an alternate defense.

Thomas claims that on the date in question, he was followed by Jacobs, who was off duty, to a piece of property owned by Doris Walker where Thomas kept cattle.

However, the county's response states that "Jacobs observed the Toyota pick-up truck driving erratically and endangering both the driver and the public ..."

Deputies Roddy and Burris was dispatched to the scene, but they deny they met with John's father, Claude Thomas, and deny that he agreed to take the deputies to the field where Thomas was located, as Thomas claims.

Thomas claims he was approximately 3,000 feet from the roadway, working on a fence on the leased property, but the deputies deny this, claiming Thomas was "slumped over and almost passed out behind the wheel of the Toyota with the keys in the ignition."

Thomas also claims he was handcuffed before taking a field sobriety test, but the deputies deny this as well.

Another claim Thomas makes is that Jacobs told Ms. Walker that Thomas "had broken up him and his girlfriend," which the response to the suit also denies.

Thomas is currently facing a number of charges in Circuit Court after being indicted by the Bedford County grand jury earlier this week.

He has been charged with two counts of DUI, three counts of animals running at large, failure to appear, theft under $500 for allegedly shoplifting from Walmart and theft over $10,000 related to the alleged theft of lumber. Thomas is due in court on March 4.

Authorities have also said that Thomas could possibly face hundreds of additional charges of animal cruelty stemming from the discovery of dead and starved cattle on his land earlier this month.