The woman said a Hamilton Co. deputy who arrested her told her she would not go to jail if she was baptized. She later died in 2022, but her civil case continues.
HAMILTON COUNTY, Tennessee — Authorities released a video years after a woman claimed she was forcibly baptized by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy.
Shandle Riley claimed a deputy threatened to arrest her during a traffic stop in February 2019 if she didn’t allow him to baptize her.
Riley died in 2022, but her case is not over. A judge allowed the civil case to proceed after his death, saying the incident was “an overtly religious act with no secular purpose”.
On April 13, 2022, authorities found Riley’s body at a Soddy-Daisy home. An autopsy report concluded that she died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl and methamphetamine.
In cellphone video recorded by another deputy, Riley can be seen following Deputy Daniel Wilkey to Soddy Lake before baptizing her. The two were then seen hugging in the post-christening video.
You can watch the video at this link. Riley’s attorneys claimed she was forced to be baptized.
“She may look like she has a happy face, but the guy was in a position of superior power over her,” said Robin Flores, who represented Riley in the civil case and the criminal trial. “The case is not dead. She didn’t die with her.
In February 2019, Wilkey arrested Riley for illegally tinting his windows. During the traffic stop, authorities said Riley admitted to having marijuana in the car.
In a federal civil rights lawsuit, Riley claimed Wilkey told her he would only write her a marijuana possession citation if she let him baptize her. She said she agreed because she thought she might have been arrested if she hadn’t.
“We believe the video evidence is what supports all of Ms. Riley’s claims,” Flores said.
In court filings last month, Riley’s attorneys claimed Wilkey improperly searched her. She claimed he touched her “all over” her body, banged her up and down several times and shook her bra vigorously several times.
“The illegal seizure at home, the duration of the seizure, as I said in my brief, exceeded what was necessary for detention,” Flores said.
In their response, however, attorneys for Wilkey and Goforth asserted that the research never became improper. They argued that Wilkey vigorously searched her bra because it was a “common hiding place for drug paraphernalia”.
They also argued that there was no evidence in a video filed in court that Riley was coerced into being baptized.
“Please point me to where there is any sign that Jacob Goforth or whoever coerced Mrs. Riley into being baptized,” said Jerry Tidwell, who represents Deputy Goforth in the affair.
In their lawyers’ memoirs, they argued that Goforth recorded the incident so Riley could not claim something happened that did not happen.
“To say he shouldn’t have done that, I can understand people saying that,” Tidwell said. “However, tell me what law he broke.”
The case is due to go to trial in September 2022, but lawyers have said they expect it to be postponed until later this year or early next year.
Riley’s lawsuit seeks $10 million in punitive damages for his estate.