Lawsuit: Tennessee Grandma Arrested on Years-Old Misdemeanor Charge for Reality TV Show – Legal Reader

“They were so ugly to me,” Dillon said. “It was so obvious that it was just for fame. It wasn’t for justice. They came in on my neighborhood like I had killed someone.”

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A Tennessee grandmother has filed a lawsuit against Knox County and its sheriff’s department, claiming that she was detained on a years-old misdemeanor charge so that local law enforcement would have the chance to appear on TV.

According to Local-12, attorneys for Donna Dillon say that, in June 2025, the Knox County Sheriff’s Department arrested their client on a three-year misdemeanor charge that has since been dropped. The arrest was filmed and publicized for the REELZ-based show “On Patrol: Live.”

Dillon says that she was handcuffed in front of her 17-year-old son; throughout the encounter, deputies allegedly used excessive force. She was later placed in a patrol vehicle and developed physical symptoms, including persist pain in an injured shoulder, after being alone for hours on end.

CNN notes that, about a week before Dillon filed her lawsuit, the Knox County Sheriff’s Department announced that it would no longer participate in On Patrol: Live, but did not state any apparent reason for making this decision. In earlier social media posts, the agency had described its collaboration with the social media show as an opportunity to “share a glimpse into the commitment and sacrifice of the men and women who proudly serve this community” while acting with “professionalism, compassion, and dedication.”

Dillon told CNN that the highly-publicized arrest has affected her mental health as well as her personal life.

“I’ve always just been a baseball mom, I’ve been everybody’s mom, everybody’s grandmother. We have so many friends,” she said. “It’s affected our family. I was embarrassed to go out in public, and just the fear that it caused me.”

Dillon was originally told that she was being arrested on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge. Several minutes later, however, an officer clarified that the charge was not domestic-related but rather a 2022 warrant for misdemeanor assault against a former neighbor, who chose not to pursue the case. Dillon herself describes the charges as fabricated; in any event, they were eventually dropped.

After the arrest, the Knox County Sheriff’s Department contacted Dillon to inform her that the deputy who had left unattended in the patrol vehicle had been suspended for three days “for keeping her confined in the van for an extended time.”

Dillon is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages for violations of her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

“They were so ugly to me,” Dillon said of the deputies who arrested her outside of her home. “It was so obvious that it was just for fame. It wasn’t for justice. They came in on my neighborhood like I had killed someone.”

“It’s just taken away all my sense of trust and security,” she told CNN. “I just want accountability.”

Sources

Dramatic arrest of Tennessee grandmother was staged for a reality TV show, lawsuit says. Now she wants justice

Grandmother files lawsuit, saying her arrest was staged for reality TV show