| Sources |
- [S123] Bridges Funeral Home, (http://www.bridgesfuneralhome.com), 4 Feb 2011.
Born: April 15, 1963
Died: February 04, 2011
Services: 7:00 PM Thursday, February 10, 2011, at Bridges Funeral Home.
Visitation: 5:00-7:00 PM Thursday, February 10, 2011, at Bridges Funeral Home.
Pitts, Derek Lewis – age 47 of Knoxville passed away Friday, February 4, 2011, suddenly. He was of the Baptist faith. Survived by sons, Eric and Tyler Pitts; grandchild, Gage Pitts; very special friend, Valerie; parents, George and Carolyn Pitts; brothers, Kirk (Denise) Pitts, Craig (Rosie) Pitts; sisters, Debra Smith, Tonya (Darrell) Myers; and several nieces and nephews. Memorial services will be 7:00 PM Thursday, February 10, 2011, at Bridges Funeral Home with Rev. Lee Wayne Grubb officiating. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Ronald and Lisa Sparks, 7233 Fairview Road, Corryton, TN 37721. The family will receive friends 5:00-7:00 PM Thursday at Bridges Funeral Home, 5430 Rutledge Pike, 865-523-4999.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to Ronald and Lisa Sparks, 7233 Fairview Road, Corryton, TN 37721.
Cemetery: none listed
Location: Bridges Funeral Home
- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 8 Feb 2011.
Family: Story of Sevier County inmate's death 'strange'
Natalie Neysa Alund alundn@knoxnews.com
SEVIERVILLE - The family of an alleged unruly Sevier County inmate is awaiting the results of an autopsy after he died while in police custody for less than a few hours.
Derek Lewis Pitts, 47, of Knoxville was jailed Thursday afternoon following a DUI vehicle chase that started in Sevier County and ended in Knoxville, arrest warrants show. That evening, Pitts was found unconscious in his Sevier County Jail cell then transported to Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals said Monday.
As part of protocol, Seals requested an autopsy be preformed and that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigate the incident. Seals said he turned over video surveillance that shows Pitts being booked into the jail.
"This whole story is very strange," said Pitts' son, Eric Pitts of South Carolina. "There's holes, and I feel things are being covered."
On Thursday Sevier County Sheriff's Office Deputy Tim Long attempted to stop Derek Pitts as he drove a black GMC pick-up truck on Chapman Highway. Long wrote in an arrest report that Pitts drove his truck across the center line several times and refused to pull over. The chase ended when Pitts pulled into his driveway at 5310 Magazine Road in Knoxville. Pitts allegedly slurred his words and could not stand without assistance. An open bottle of vodka was found in the truck. Deputies arrested Pitts on charges of a felony fourth DUI, evading arrest, driving on a revoked license and violation of the implied consent law.
Back in Sevier, Seals said Pitts acted unruly as officers attempted to book him into jail.
"He was uncooperative," Seals said. "We couldn't even complete his mug shot or fingerprints. There were no threats, no fights, no nothing."
Pitts' son thinks differently.
"I feel there's more to this," he said Monday, adding that the family was not notified about his father's death until Friday.
Seals said his deputies were not able to contact Pitts' family because he did not give them any contact information. Eventually they were able to contact them after obtaining his driver's license from the Knoxville Police Department.
Eric Pitts said his grandmother called the jail early Friday morning, but a jail spokesman told her there was no one in jail by that name, he said.
Later Friday, around 4:30 p.m., he said another family member called the sheriff's office and was told his father was in Fort Sanders. Pitts' grandmother went to the hospital and was told they had taken Derek Pitts off of life support 20 minutes prior to her arrival, Eric Pitts said.
"They did it with no family member present or consent whatsoever," Pitts said.
The Regional Forensic Center in Knoxville conducted an autopsy Saturday at the request of the Sevier County medical examiner, authorities said. The results were not available Monday, authorities said.
Natalie Neysa Alund may be reached at 865-342-6307.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 7 Dec 2011.
Family confirms jailed man’s death; Derek Pitts was placed on life support after being booked Thursday afternoon
By BOB MAYES
Managing Editor
A Knoxville man who was placed on life support after being arrested in Sevier County and held at the jail has died, the family confirmed to The Mountain Press late Sunday afternoon.
Eric Pitts, 27-year-old son of Derek Lewis Pitts, called from his grandparents’ home in Knoxville and said his father died Friday afternoon at Fort Sanders Medical Center in Knoxville.
He said the family has questions surrounding Derek Pitts’ death.
“The family has been contacted by a third party and that person said things were not the way they were reported,” said Pitts, who is acting as spokesman for the family. He said the family planned to retain a lawyer this morning.
The Mountain Press reported Saturday that Derek Pitts of 5310 Magazine Road in Knoxville, was brought into Sevier County Jail on Thursday afternoon on charges of a felony fourth DUI, evading arrest, violation of the implied consent law and driving on a revoked license.
Sevier County sheriff’s officials said doctors placed Pitts on life support after he fell ill at the jail. Doctors apparently gave him little chance of survival if the machine was unhooked. It was reported at that time that Pitts had been taken to UT Medical Center.
Sheriff Ron Seals said last week he had requested an independent investigation of the incident from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, as well as an autopsy in the event of Pitts’ death. Seals said video recordings showing the full process of Pitts being booked into the jail have been retained for the investigation.
“There was no incident, no scuffle or fight,” Seals told The Mountain Press on Friday, denying that Pitts had been Tased. “He was uncooperative throughout the process.”
Eric Pitts was unwilling to say on the record Sunday what he had heard had happened to his father, but said the family was unhappy with how the situation was handled by people at the jail.
“Nobody really knew anything because nobody had contacted any of the family,” Eric Pitts said. “My grandmother had tried to call him (Derek) several times at the jail to figure out his bond and stuff.
“She said that after a few times, the jailer got very rude with her and said, ‘I’m speaking plain English, lady. There’s nobody here by that name.’”
Pitts said his grandmother made the initial call to the jail between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday. Later Friday, he said, his aunt, Tonya Myers, called the sheriff’s office and was told that his father was in the ICU at Fort Sanders.
“That was around 4:40,” he said. “The family went to Fort Sanders and got there around 5:15, and they said they had taken him off of life support 20 minutes earlier.”
The younger Pitts said his father’s body was at UT Medical Center on Sunday pending an autopsy.
bmayes@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 7 Feb 2011.
Family questions inmate’s death; sheriff asks TBI to probe case, is confident jailers acted correctly
By JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE —Sheriff Ron Seals has asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to investigate the death of a man who died after being taken to the Sevier County Jail, and the man’s family is seeking answers for how he died and why they weren’t asked before he was taken off of life support.
And one man who was in the jail at the time says he believes the man was beaten by law enforcement officers and then neglected while in the jail.
Derek Lewis Pitts, 47, of Knoxville, was arrested Thursday on his fourth count of DUI, felony evading arrest, driving on a revoked license and violation of implied consent. Sheriff’s deputies said they located Pitts’ black pickup on Chapman Highway after a driver called 911 to complaint about an erratic driver in that model vehicle.
Pitts allegedly crossed the center line three times within a half mile in view of a deputy, and refused to stop when they turned on their blue lights. The brief chase crossed into Knox County, where he stopped in the driveway of his home.
“He could not speak fluently. He could not stand without assistance. He had an open bottle of vodka in the vehicle,” Deputy Tim Long wrote in the arrest warrant. Pitts also declined to provide blood for a blood-alcohol test.
While he was still in jail, he went into some sort of medical distress. He was taken to Fort Sanders Medical Center in Knoxville, where he was pronounced dead. Sheriff Ron Seals said he had asked TBI to investigate the death, and a TBI spokesperson confirmed they are looking into it. The bureau was not releasing more information Monday.
Pitts’ son, Eric Pitts, said he believes his father’s death is suspicious. He is speaking to an area attorney who he said plans to take the case, but said he didn’t want to give a name because he hasn’t hired the attorney yet.
“There’s a bunch of questions that haven’t been answered,” Eric Pitts said. “I just want to find out the truth and what really happened.”
He acknowledged his father had a history of drinking; he would get depressed and start “binge drinking,” but then would stop. That had seemed to stop recently, he said. “In recent times, he hadn’t been doing anything. I’d talked to him on the phone over the last few months and he’d be sober and he and we had good conversations.”
Eric Pitts said he was concerned because they had a hard time finding out where his father was. His grandmother started calling the jail Friday, he said, but was told no one by that name was present. Eventually, he said, his aunt called the jail and was told that his father was in intensive care at Fort Sanders.
Family members rushed to the hospital, but when they arrived they were told Derek Pitts had been removed from life support minutes before they arrived and had been pronounced dead. After arguing with personnel at the hospital, his grandmother was allowed see his father’s body, he said. “She said he was already cold to the touch. The left side of his face had turned black and already with the time frame they gave us it just didn’t seem to add up.”
The Mountain Press could not reach personnel from Fort Sanders for comment Monday, but a person familiar with the procedure said personnel could have removed an intubator rather than life support measures from Pitts.
His body was sent for an autopsy by the Knox County Medical Examiner; that office normally handles autopsies for Sevier County.
A man who said he was in the jail at the time has told the family, The Mountain Press and other media outlets that he believes Derek Pitts was beaten, and was left alone in a jail cell without treatment even after a nurse said he needed attention. Ronnie Dean Gresham said he was in the jail on domestic assault charges at the same time Pitts was there.
“When they brought him in, he was in such bad shape I don’t think he could talk,” Gresham said.
He said he believed the man had been assaulted before he came in, but he never saw anyone attack the man in the jail. He thinks something happened before Pitts came into view.
At one point, he said, he saw the jail nurse go to check on Pitts. She told jailers the man needed medical attention if they weren’t going to take him to the hospital.
He believes Pitts was dead when he was removed from the cell, he said.
“I think that man was beaten and Tased before he was brought in I believe he was roughed up,” Gresham said. “... They let the man die. That I am convinced of.”
Meanwhile, the sheriff said his department is ready to answer any questions about the incident. They have turned all information over to TBI, he said, including recordings of Pitts as he was brought into the jail. He also noted that jailers could see into Pitts’ cell without walking by or going into the cell; the jail is designed so cells can be monitored from a central location, he noted.
Jailers had changed shifts before the family started to call, which might have explained why the jailers who spoke to the family Friday didn’t know what to tell the family beyond that Pitts was not being held there, he said.
The decision to stop using life support, if that occurred, was not up to his department, he said. That would have been up to medical personnel.
Seals said he believes the investigation will clear his department.
“The investigation is ongoing and (the charges are) going to be proved false,” he said.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 8 Feb 2011.
Pitts autopsy shows no injuries; preliminary report indicates heart problems, emphysema, cirrhosis
By JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE — The Regional Forensic Center’s preliminary findings from an autopsy of the man who died last week in custody of the Sevier County Jail shows a forensic pathologist found the man suffered heart problems, emphysema and cirrhosis and does not mention any injuries or signs he had been beaten.
Toxicology and other tests on Derek Lewis Pitts have not been completed and the autopsy is not complete. “After microscopic examination and other tests are complete, there may be revision of these diagnoses and addition of other diagnoses,” the report states. “These changes will be reflected in the final report.”
The document, completed by forensic pathologist Steven C. Cogswell, says he is specifically awaiting toxicology results on “blue granular material” found in his nose and “cerebral and pulmonary edema.” The results were obtained by The Mountain Press on Tuesday.
It also mentions several signs of heart disease, including dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary atherosclerosis, as well as hepatic cirrhosis, splenic and pancreatic fibrosis and pulmonary emphysema.
Deputies arrested Pitts, 47, on Thursday on charges of felony evading arrest, driving on a revoked license, violation of implied consent and his fourth count of DUI.
Sometime while he was in custody, he experienced some sort of medical distress. He was taken to Fort Sanders Medical Center in Knoxville, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Pitts’ son, Eric Pitts, has said there are a number of unanswered questions about the death. He believes something happened to his father at the jail or when he was arrested.
His family had a hard time finding out where Derek Pitts was; they learned Friday afternoon that he was at Fort Sanders, but were told he was “removed from life support” 20 minutes before they arrived.
A spokesperson for the hospital confirmed Tuesday that Derek Pitts was brought to the hospital and was pronounced dead; that was all the information the hospital could release about the incident, she said.
Sheriff Ron Seals has asked TBI to investigate the death, and has said he believes his officers did nothing wrong.
Ronnie Dean Gresham, who said he was in the jail at the time Pitts was brought in, said he believed Derek Pitts had been beaten before being placed in a cell. Gresham said he didn’t see any guards do anything to Pitts, but that Pitts appeared to him to have been beaten at some point before coming in.
A jail nurse checked on Pitts at some point, and told jailers he needed medical attention or should be monitored, Gresham said, but as far as he knew no one checked on Pitts between that time and when he was taken from the jail.
Seals said the jail is designed so corrections officers can view inside all cells from a central location.
The Sevier County Coroner’s Office is in charge of autopsy reports, and at first officials there said they would not release the document to The Mountain Press. The document was faxed to the newspaper Tuesday evening after the newspaper contacted officials including TBI agents as well as spokesperson Kristin Helm, District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn and County Mayor Larry Waters.
Michelle Case, secretary for the coroner’s office, first told the newspaper that a TBI agent told her not to release the document. “I spoke to the TBI officer who is investigating this and because this is an ongoing investigation, those results cannot be released at this time,” Case said. She referred further questions on the matter to TBI spokesperson Kristin Helm.
At that time, Helm had already told The Mountain Press TBI had not taken action to keep the report confidential.
Case referred the newspaper to the local TBI office, where agents said they would not release information from their own files but that they had not ordered the coroner’s office to withhold the records.
Helm reaffirmed later in the day that no one from TBI had told the Sevier County Coroner’s Office not to release the documents. Dunn also said he hadn’t asked for the records to be withheld.
Dr. Jerry Bradley is the county coroner; he is appointed by the Sevier County Commission. Case acts as secretary and custodian of the records; it is a part-time position.
When contacted Tuesday, although out of town, Waters attempted to reach Case and ask her to fax the report to The Mountain Press. Case had already left the office for the day, but was eventually reached by county officials and agreed to fax the report after returning to the office.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
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