County reaches settlement with family of woman baptized by sheriff's deputy

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. — The family of a woman whom a former deputy led into Soddy Lake to be baptized has reached a proposed settlement with the county.

Shandle Riley, who died in 2022, was baptised by then-Deputy Daniel Wilkey as a way for her to get out of a ticket, back in February 2019.

Wilkey’s partner, Jacob Goforth, recorded the incident on his body camera:

That footage was revealed when Riley’s attorney filed an $11 million lawsuit against Hamilton County in federal court.

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As part of the proposed settlement, Riley’s family will receive $100,000.

Hamilton County Commissioners must still approve the settlement, and plan to vote on it during their weekly meeting this Wednesday.

Wilkey faced charges for the baptism incident and dozens of others, but all of those charges were later dropped.

In court, Wilkey admitted to baptizing Riley, but he said it was she who, unprompted, specifically asked Wilkey to do it so she could “turn away from her life of drug abuse and crime.”

The suit says Wilkey told Riley he would only give her a citation instead of take her to jail for marijuana remnants in her car if she let him baptize her.

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Afterward, Riley said she felt ‘horribly violated.’

Riley died of an overdose in April 2022. One man faces charges in her death …

County reaches settlement with family of woman baptized by sheriff’s deputy

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