Allegations that Walker County Jail inmate Anthony “Tony” Mitchell was placed in a jail freezer before his in-custody death in January are based on nothing but speculation and should be stricken from court documents, sheriff’s lawyers contend.

“These allegations are the definition of scandalous,’’ accord to a new federal court filing made public Friday.

“Based on nothing but speculation, (the plaintiff) accuses the defendants of murder…Mitchell by placing him in a freezer until he suffered and died from hypothermia and then accuse the defendants of covering up the murder.”

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“These speculative allegations are false,’’ wrote attorneys for the sheriff’s office. “Mitchell’s incarceration is captured on video.”

“He was not held in a freezer,’’ the document states. “In fact, the only times that he left the booking area was to attend his 72-hour hearing and to be transported to the hospital.”

“These allegations intentionally created a firestorm of derision that swept not only these defendants but law enforcement in general and caused criminal investigations to be opened against the defendants,’’ the records state.

“This case embodies the adage, ‘A lie is halfway around the world before the truth can put on its boots,’’’ lawyers wrote.

Mitchell, 33, died Jan. 26 at Walker Baptist Medical Center, just over two weeks after he was arrested on charges that he fired on Walker County deputies as they responded to a welfare check requested by his family.

Walker County Coroner Joey Vick on Friday said a cause of death has not yet been finalized.

Lawyers for Mitchell’s mother filed the lawsuit, claiming that jail deputies tased Mitchell and locked him in a freezer.

The federal lawsuit alleges abuse and medical neglect of Mitchell at the hands of Sheriff Nick Smith and staff at the county jail, including corrections officers, nurses and an investigator.

The lawsuit stated Mitchell froze to death. An emergency room doctor listed the cause of death as hypothermia and noted that Mitchell’s rectal temperature was 72 degrees.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the FBI are investigating the circumstances surrounding Mitchell’s death.

Attorneys for the sheriff’s office Friday responded to the lawsuit and filed the motion to strike the freezer allegations from the initial complaint.

In the response, sheriff’s official’s lawyers said Mitchell was on suicide watch, but denied that he was kept naked in a cell.

They also deny that there is security footage showing Mitchell on a cement floor while corrections officers laughed at him.

“Unlike plaintiff’s rank and scandalous speculation, there is proof of defendant’s conduct because Mitchell’s incarceration is captured on video,’’ the response states. “These videos have been reviewed and the plaintiff’s allegations did not happen.”

“Indeed, plaintiff’s counsels in their media blitz appeared on CNN and admitted that they do not have proof that Mitchell was placed in a freezer,” the response states, “yet they deliberately included these patently false and explosive allegations.’’

“A reasonable sanction is an order dismissing this case with prejudice,” the motion states.

The plaintiffs should also be required to attorney fees and costs, the motion continued.

“Plaintiff and the conduct of her counsels exceeded the bounds of proper litigation. Harsh sanctions are warranted to dissuade Plaintiff counsels and others from engaging in such intentional and dangerous behavior.”

The ordeal began Jan. 12 when Mitchell’s family members asked deputies to check on him, fearing he could harm himself or someone else.

Mitchell had a history of methamphetamine addiction. When deputies arrived at the scene, they said he pulled a handgun on fired on them and then fled into nearby woods.

SWAT officers, Alabama Department of Corrections tracking dogs and a helicopter were deployed to the scene.

He was found hiding in a metal out building. Officers used a flash bang – a distraction device – to make entry into the building.

He was taken into custody. Authorities said he had covered himself in black spray paint.

According to the lawsuit, Mitchell had lived with his father in Carbon Hill but spiraled out of control after his father’s death months ago, taking drugs and experiencing mental health problems.

The suit alleges Mitchell was put in an isolation cell, not meant to hold inmates, in the booking area of the Walker County Jail where he was left for most of the 14 days before his death. He was not given medical care, according to the suit.

Corrections Officer Karen Kelly took video recordings of security footage of the events leading up to Mitchell’s death and shared them publicly. She has filed a lawsuit that alleges she was fired in retaliation afterward.

One video showed Mitchell being dragged, naked, across the floor by officers, according to the family’s suit. Another, from January 15, two days after he was taken to jail, shows him being tased, naked, by a group of officers in the doorway of his isolation cell, the family’s suit says.

Jail incident reports from the hours leading up to Mitchell’s death viewed by Kelly, according to the family suit, state two officers, Braxton Kee and Jacob Smith, found Mitchell unresponsive at feeding time, around 4 a.m. The family’s suit alleges he had been left for hours in a restraint chair in a jail freezer before the officers found him.

The suit says the jail kitchen typically opens at 3 a.m. and Mitchell was not taken to the hospital until 8:30 a.m.

At 8:30 a.m. officers removed Mitchell from his cell in a wheelchair. He was dressed in an orange jail uniform. He fell out of the wheelchair outside the cell and deputies put him back in it. His body made slow and spasmodic movements, according to the complaint. Deputies then picked up Mitchell and dragged him back into the cell, according to the complaint.

Four deputies then carried Mitchell outside the jail to an SUV. They placed him on the ground to open the door, allowing his head to rest on the concrete. In the video, he appeared unconscious. Officers then lifted him into the vehicle and drove him to Walker County Medical Center.

By the time they reached the hospital, the suit says, Mitchell was breathing with difficulty, only two to four breaths a minute. According to the suit, deputies did not tell hospital staff Mitchell had been put in a freezer. Mitchell was cold to the touch when he arrived in the emergency room, according to the suit.

He was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m.

Following his death, the sheriff’s office released a statement that said Mitchell was alert and conscious when he left the jail and arrived at the hospital. “Shortly after arrival at the hospital, the inmate suffered a medical emergency and became unresponsive,’’ the statement read. “Life-saving efforts were performed by hospital staff and the inmate was ultimately revived.”

“Unfortunately, a short time later, the inmate passed away,’’ the statement read. “It is unknown at this time what contributed to his death.”