Grandmother arrested and sues police: "They were creating dramatic content for a reality show"
Donna Dillon from Knoxville has filed a lawsuit against Knox County and the local sheriff's office after being arrested at her home on an old warrant for the sake of filming a police reality show. Dillon claims the incident caused significant emotional distress to her family. This is not the first instance of such television programs leading to high-profile lawsuits and multi-million dollar settlements.
Donna Dillon and her family were relaxing in their living room last summer in Knoxville, Tennessee, when they heard a loud knock at the door. Dillon looked outside and saw approximately ten police officers accompanied by a cameraman filming for the American police reality show "On Patrol: Live". According to her, she stepped outside in a panic, fearing for her son who had just left the house, but immediately found herself handcuffed on her own front steps alongside her 17-year-old son.
Police officers claimed the arrest was based on a three-year-old charge for minor offenses; according to Dillon, the case should have been dismissed long ago. In a lawsuit filed last June against Knox County, the sheriff, and four deputies, Dillon alleges that the frightening arrest was staged solely to create "dramatic content".
According to the lawsuit, Dillon begged the officers not to handcuff her behind her back, as she was recovering from recent shoulder surgery. Although the position of the handcuffs was changed after about five minutes, she claims she was held in a painful position for over four hours in a patrol car and subsequently detained in jail for more than seven hours, during which she was denied medical attention. The local sheriff later stated that the patrol car driver was suspended for three days for "prolonged holding in a vehicle".
About a week before the lawsuit was filed, the sheriff's office announced it would no longer participate in the television show, without providing a reason. Legal representatives for the sheriff's office declined to comment due to the ongoing litigation, though they had previously posted on social media that the program was an opportunity to showcase the sensitivity and professionalism of their officers.
Criminology and legal experts note that such reality shows have long been criticized for exposing citizens to unnecessary risks and conducting arrests "for the cameras" at the expense of human rights. Similar cases have become more frequent in the United States in recent years. In 2024, a Texas county agreed to pay $2.5 million to a resident who claimed that police staged his son's arrest in 2020 for the show "Live PD".
"The events of that summer of 2025 continue to haunt me every day, causing me shame and fear," Dillon testifies.
Dillon is seeking damages for the violation of her rights protected under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. She maintains that the original charge, which stemmed from a dispute with former neighbors, had long been dismissed.
