DEKALB COUNTY, GA — The family of an Army veteran who died in the DeKalb County jail in 2024 has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging negligence in Christon Collins’s death.

The multi-million-dollar suit names DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox; detention officers J. Stafford, Telford, and A. Jimoh; and EMT K. Lawrence. It seeks policy changes and punitive damages.

The complaint alleges that Collins took fentanyl-laced drugs and collapsed, where he lay for more than three hours without anyone giving him CPR, Narcan, or any kind of medical help at all. He suffered cardiac arrest and anoxic brain injury, dying two days later on March 15, 2024.

“Punitive damages are designed to punish, penalize, and deter this type of behavior,” says family attorney Eric Hertz.

Collins had been a private in the United States Army, and suffered from PTSD stemming from his service. He had struggled with it since his discharge in 2018.

He had been arrested and jailed a little over a month before his March 15 death, accused of obstruction of law enforcement and simple battery against police for allegedly running on I-85 and hitting a police car with his shoulder.

The federal lawsuit says Collins was given a psychological evaluation at Grady Hospital and diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and Schizophrenia the day of his arrest in February.

Family attorney Ben Crump asks why it seemed no one in a position of authority at the jail seemed to view Collins with any humanity.

“Suffering from PTSD, and that’s how we reward him? By having him die on a floor in the DeKalb County Jail for over three hours while the guard plays on her cell phone?” said Crump.

Tobias Woods, another detainee at the time of Collins’s death, gave or sold Collins the drugs. He was indicted by a DeKalb County grand jury in November 2024 on charges of felony murder and distribution of controlled substances and items prohibited for possession by inmates.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025, on what would have been Collins’s 29th birthday, Woods pleaded guilty to distributing drugs and was sentenced to 10 years behind bars.

Jonia Milburn, Collins’s mother, said in court that she forgives Woods. She says that more accountability is needed.

“Yes, Tobias Woods was charged. That doesn’t satisfy me,” said Milburn. “Even if they had given him life, that wouldn’t have satisfied me because he was not the only person. He was an inmate, not a worker of the jail. [Christon] wasn’t under Tobias’s care. He was under the jail’s care.”

Details of how the drugs got into the jail have not been revealed. Family attorney Liza Park says now that Woods’s case is closed, they can start learning more about that criminal investigation.

WSB Radio received the following statement from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office:

In light of potential litigation, the Sheriff’s Office is unable to provide comment.