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NASHVILLE, TN (CNN) - A Tennessee man claimed a sheriff's deputy ripped a gold grill out of his mouth before snapping his mug shot. The problem is the grill was permanently attached to the man's teeth. Now, the man is set to collect $95,000 over the incident.
"There's the grill," said David Raybin, Anthony McCoy's attorney. "It's upside down. If it were in his mouth it would be like this."
The decorative grill used to be attached to Anthony McCoy's teeth with dental cement.
"And then it took part of the teeth with it," said Raybin.
But last November, Davidson County Sheriff's Lieutenant Tanya Mayhew changed that when she decided the grill didn't belong in McCoy's mugshot.
"He put his head back, she put on her gloves, put her fingers on his teeth and yanked as hard as she could," said Raybin. "[She] pulled the grill out and along with that the enamel off several of his teeth. He started spitting blood and teeth and tissue. They gave him a trash can and said spit into that and get back in line."
Raybin says McCoy, who had been arrested for failing to pay child support, stayed in jail 10 painful days before receiving medical treatment.
"Anyone can be arrested at anytime... but no one deserves to be treated this way," said Raybin.
Rabin reached a settlement with Metro attorneys; McCoy will get $75,000 from the city, and $20,000 from Correct Care Solutions, which provides medical care at the jail.
"This man was a human being," said Raybin. "He had dignity and he has rights."
"My understanding is this is a violation of a number of sheriff department policies," said Ronnie Steine, a Metro Council Member.
The Metro Council will likely approve the settlement at its meeting Tuesday evening.
"Clearly, no, we would not want to spend our money this way," said Steine. "This is an egregious act on both a human and a financial level."
Raybin says a big chunk of the settlement will go towards having McCoy's teeth fixed. Some of the money will also be used to catch up on his child support payments
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