The family of a man who died in the Tulsa Municipal Jail has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the City of Tulsa, a private security contractor and the jail administrator of ignoring years of warnings about dangerous conditions inside the facility.
The lawsuit, filed July 9 in federal court, stems from the February 2025 death of Brian Bonner, a 38-year-old man who died from a treatable throat infection after spending three days in the city jail. Bonner is one of at least seven people who have died at the facility since January 2023, an investigation by The Frontier found.
The suit alleges Bonner’s death was not an isolated incident but the result of chronic understaffing, inadequate medical screening, poor monitoring of detainees and the city’s decision to operate a jail without on-site medical personnel. It names the city, Allied Universal, which operates the jail under a contract worth nearly $3 million annually, jail administrator Weston Hardin, and unnamed detention officers as defendants.
“The death of Brian Bonner was the direct and foreseeable result of the systemic deficiencies described above,” attorneys for Bonner’s estate wrote in the complaint.
The City of Tulsa, Allied Universal, and Hardin did not respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit echoes many findings from reporting by The Frontier, including allegations that employees repeatedly warned officials about unsafe conditions, jail staff ignored detainees’ medical needs, and jail administrators retaliated against employees who raised concerns.
It is at least the third wrongful-death case filed against the jail since it opened in 2018. The family of a 23-year-old man with mental illness who died by suicide sued in June. The family of a paraplegic woman who died in 2020 filed suit in 2021 but later withdrew the case.
Bonner was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His mother, Carla Bonner, described him as a “wonderful human being” who rarely missed church and enjoyed making art and spending time with family.
After a delayed psychiatric appointment left him without medication, Bonner left his Oklahoma City home and eventually drifted to Tulsa. His mother spent months searching for him before learning he had died in jail.
Bonner had been booked into the city lockup 11 times in the five months before his death, largely on misdemeanor trespassing charges, which the complaint characterizes as “tied to homelessness and untreated mental illness.”
At left, Brian Bonner is driven to jail in February 2025. At right, Bonner in his 20s.
Bonner was arrested on Feb. 14, 2025, after managers of a downtown Tulsa steakhouse called police to report him smoking in the lobby. An officer accused him of public intoxication, writing in an arrest report that Bonner’s pupils were not reactive to light and that he had difficulty remaining still.
Body camera footage reviewed by The Frontier shows one officer asking whether Bonner should be taken to the sobering center, where police can take intoxicated people to sober up under supervision. Another replied, “Nah.”
As officers escorted Bonner into the jail, one remarked that the restaurant owners “didn’t really want anything to happen to him” but could not let him stay in the lobby.
Bonner was scheduled for a telehealth appointment after police booked him into the city jail but he died before the appointment.
According to the complaint, Bonner suffered respiratory distress for hours before he was found unresponsive in his cell on Feb. 17, 2025. The state medical examiner determined he died from acute laryngo-epiglottitis, an infection that can obstruct the airway and is generally treatable.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and alleges violations of Bonner’s constitutional rights, as well as negligence claims against Allied Universal and Hardin.
Carla Bonner said she retained an attorney after The Frontier contacted her last year and told her more about the case and the broader pattern of deaths at the city jail.
This article was originally published by The Frontier. You can see the original story here.