Mother accuses police of standing by and doing nothing for 13 minutes as her son drowned in Tennessee river

Kimberly Williams-Clabo says police prevented witnesses from going to the aid of her son Mika Wheeler Clabo

Mika Wheeler Clabo drowned in July 2022 in the Tennessee River in Knoxville (Facebook / Kimberly Williams-Clabo)

The mother of a Tennessee man who drowned after fleeing from police is suing the officers who allegedly watched him struggle in the water for 13 minutes while doing nothing to save his life.

Kimberly Williams-Clabo claimed in the lawsuit that four Knoxville Police Department officers prevented witnesses from going to the aid of Mika Wheeler Clabo, 30, as he became caught on vines in the Tennessee River last July.

Ms Williams-Clabo accused the City of Knoxville, its police chief and the officers of violating her son’s civil rights in the $4m lawsuit filed exactly one year after his death in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

“Mika deserved better than what he got … from people who were supposed to be first responders,” her attorney Lance Baker told the Washington Post.

“The first responders were essentially bystanders looking on.”

In a statement, the Knoxville Police Department said its officers had acted appropriately and they would “vigorously” defend the suit.

The lawsuit described Clabo as a master arborist and nature lover who had become addicted to opioids as a teenager.

After moving to Knoxville to take part in a court-sponsored rehabilitation programme, he relapsed and was reported missing by his mother on 21 July last year.

On 25 July last year, Knoxville police received several 911 calls to report Clabo had been spotted acting erratically at around 10am, according to the lawsuit.

He reportedly fled from police after being confronted in a restaurant parking lot and fell down a bank and into the Tennessee River.

Mika Wheeler Clabo died after falling into the Tennessee River in Knoxville on 25 July 2022 (Knoxville Police Department)

At 10.17am, an officer called the Knoxville Fire Department to send a rescue boat and tried to coax Clabo out of the water, the suit claims.

The officer told police dispatch that Clabo was “attempting to get back to shore but I cannot get to him,” according to the lawsuit.

The suit alleges that the officer’s body camera shows that the officer did nothing to try to reach Clabo.

Clabo gasped for air and pleaded for help after becoming stuck in vines before his head went under the water, according to the suit.

More officers arrived at 10.21am, along with at least one EMT, and discussed trying to reach him. One allegedly said: “I’m not going down there, cause he’ll drown my a**.” 

The suit alleges that “none of the four officers tried to reach him with their hands, a baton, a rope, a tow-strap, a flotation device, or anything.”

Restaurant employees and diners allegedly pleaded with the officers to intervene, and were prevented from trying to reach him.

“At least two would-be citizen-heroes wanted to try to save Mika themselves,” the lawsuit says.

Clabo was last spotted above the water at 10.28am, and a rescue boat arrived shortly afterward.

Police divers found Clabo’s body and pulled him out of the river at about 12.40pm, and found that his “feet and neck were entangled with vines”, according to the suit.

A medical examiner ruled his death was an accidental drowning.

The Knoxville Police Department said in a statement that the lawsuit’s claims were not “supported by the facts”.

“While Mika Clabo’s death was undoubtedly tragic, the KPD officers involved did not respond inappropriately, and the City will vigorously defend this lawsuit.

“The officers immediately called for assistance from additional specialized resources, and any suggestion that they prevented reasonable or safe attempts to rescue Mr Clabo is not supported by the facts.”