Michael Broady
Michael Broady Jr. was 40, and his family remembers him as caring, outgoing, and devoted to the people he loved; his daughter never got to see him meet her young son. In August 2021, he called 911 in a paranoid state, and Pickens County officers who came to arrest him used Tasers on him. He became unresponsive in a patrol car while being taken to be booked, and he died. The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences listed both the cause and manner of his death as undetermined, unable to say whether methamphetamine, the Tasers, or pressure on his neck caused it. His family filed a federal lawsuit alleging excessive force, which the defendants deny.
Cause of death, as reported: Cause not yet determined (disputed). The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences autopsy ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined, while his family's federal lawsuit alleges officers used excessive force, which the defendants deny.
Reported by: Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences (medical examiner or coroner); his family's federal lawsuit (family or their lawyers); defendants in the family's lawsuit (the agency that held him).
Lawsuit: His family filed a federal lawsuit alleging excessive force, which the defendants deny; no settlement or award amount is reported.