George Henderson: Silver Alert, No Indictment, and Civil Lawsuit

George Henderson, a retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease, is suing the Guthrie, Kentucky Police Department after Officer Jacob Pritchett punched him unconscious, jailed him, and charged him with five felonies during a December 2024 encounter that began when Henderson wandered from his Tennessee home. A Todd County grand jury refused to indict him on any charge, and his family’s civil rights lawsuit against Pritchett and Police Chief Dean Blumel is now pending in Todd County Circuit Court.¹

What Happened at the Gas Station

Henderson, 29 years in the Army and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s linked to combat head injuries, disappeared from his home in Clarksville, Tennessee on the afternoon of December 6, 2024. His wife Kimberly, who has described his cognitive capacity as that of a four- or five-year-old, reported him missing. About six hours later, just after 10 p.m., he turned up at an Exxon station in Guthrie, Kentucky, roughly 15 miles north. He was incoherent, dressed for the freezing night in mismatched shoes worn on the wrong feet. A clerk called police after Henderson climbed into the clerk’s vehicle.²

Officer Jacob Pritchett was already at the station on an unrelated traffic stop. He accused Henderson of being under the influence of cocaine. Body camera footage shows Pritchett grabbing Henderson’s arm, taking him to the ground, holding his head against the floor, and striking him on the right side of the head. The punch knocked Henderson out for about 30 seconds and left a cut above his ear that required stitches.¹

The Silver Alert That Never Reached Guthrie

The Clarksville Police Department and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had issued a Silver Alert for Henderson hours earlier. Pritchett did not learn about it until he radioed the name to dispatch after the fight was over. Chief Blumel later confirmed the alert had never been dispatched to the Guthrie Police Department, telling investigators, “We had no knowledge of Mr. Henderson’s Silver Alert.”³

Even after learning who Henderson was, Pritchett did not release him. He told dispatch, “10-4, he’s still pending charges at this time, but you can advise he’s been found,” and transported Henderson to the Todd County Detention Center. An EMS technician on scene had advised that Henderson needed a hospital. He was held at the jail without his Alzheimer’s medication.²

Five Charges, Then No Indictment

Pritchett charged Henderson with public intoxication by a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, attempted theft from a vehicle, resisting arrest, and assault of a police officer. He testified at a preliminary hearing that Henderson had bitten his hand.⁴

Henderson had no drugs or stolen property on him. A drug test at the jail came back negative for all substances.² A Todd County District Court judge threw out the possession charge but found probable cause on the remaining four and forwarded them for grand jury consideration.⁵ On March 12, 2025, the Todd County Grand Jury returned a “no true bill,” and every remaining count was dropped.⁶

An Offer to Drop the Charges

Before the grand jury decision, Kimberly Henderson said the Guthrie Police Department contacted her and offered to dismiss the charges if she agreed not to file a formal complaint against Pritchett. She called it “somewhat of a threat” and refused. The family’s civil rights attorney, Jeremy Stochaj, said the proposed deal would have required them to stipulate probable cause for the arrest, conceding the arrest was appropriate. “I’m not willing to be intimidated in the way that the Todd County system appears to want,” he said.²

The Civil Lawsuit

Stochaj filed a nine-count civil lawsuit in Todd County Circuit Court on April 24, 2025, on behalf of George and Kimberly Henderson. The suit names Officer Jacob Pritchett and Guthrie Police Chief Dean Blumel.¹

The counts against Pritchett are excessive force for using more force than necessary on a disoriented, cognitively impaired man; defamation per se for false statements in the police report; battery for slamming and punching Henderson; negligence for failing to secure medical help; gross negligence for reckless disregard of Henderson’s safety; and malicious prosecution for filing charges without evidence or probable cause. Two negligence counts against Chief Blumel allege he failed to ensure officers followed proper procedures and failed to train or supervise Pritchett. Kimberly Henderson brings a loss of consortium claim for the worsening of her husband’s condition.¹

The family seeks unspecified compensation for past and future medical bills, physical and mental pain and suffering, emotional distress, and punitive damages, and has requested a jury trial.¹

The Prosecutor’s Dual Role

Todd County Attorney Jeffrey Traughber, who prosecuted the criminal case against Henderson, also serves as the City Attorney for Guthrie, the city whose police department the Hendersons are now suing. Stochaj and the family have argued the arrangement raises “serious questions of whether the criminal case against George was biased from the start.” Traughber declined to comment to WSMV4 Investigates, saying only, “I’m not going to comment on pending litigation.”⁵

The Department’s Defense and the Training Question

Chief Blumel has maintained that Pritchett “handled the matter consistent with his training and departmental policy” based on the information available at the time. He declined to speak on camera about the arrest, and no disciplinary or criminal action against Pritchett has been publicly reported.³

WSMV4 Investigates reported that Pritchett’s personnel records show he completed a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training course, modeled on the Memphis Police Department program and designed to help officers de-escalate encounters with people in mental health crisis, just ten months before the incident. Stochaj said the body camera footage showed no application of that training, and that Pritchett instead relied on “implicit bias or poor training” in immediately concluding that Henderson was engaged in criminal conduct.² The department’s defense in the civil case has reportedly relied in part on the fact that criminal charges were initially filed against Henderson, charges the grand jury declined to support.⁵

What the Arrest Did to Henderson

Kimberly Henderson said the physical trauma accelerated her husband’s decline. He suffered three seizures after the incident, which a home nurse attributed to pressure on the brain from being struck in the head, and his verbal communication has further deteriorated.⁶ “The time that I still have with him is being spent on stuff, court appearances, doctor’s appointments,” she told WSMV. “And I feel like there is still some part of him in there, and whatever time I have left, I want to do family things.”²

Current Status

The civil lawsuit remains pending in Todd County Circuit Court. No trial date has been publicly reported, and no settlement has been announced.⁵