A Utah school administrator is seeking damages in federal court over allegations that correctional officers drugged and sexually assaulted her during an overnight stay at Nashville’s Downtown Detention Center in October 2025.
Lisa Travis, of Salt Lake City, filed the lawsuit Tuesday. Her complaint describes the use of chemical spray and physical restraints, followed by an injection, a beating and rape. She alleges she left custody with a concussion and a traumatic brain injury that have caused lasting symptoms.
The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office disputes her account, saying it previously reviewed documentation of her incarceration and found no evidence consistent with the allegations. The agency confirmed that all officers named in the lawsuit remain employed.
Separately, the Metro Nashville Police Department says a criminal investigation is open. Police said they learned of Travis’ allegations in May 2026 and assigned a detective. A sexual assault examination kit, initially submitted anonymously, is undergoing testing, according to the department.
Travis had traveled to Nashville to perform with a gospel choir at the Dove Awards at Bridgestone Arena, an annual Christian music celebration. On Oct. 7, 2025, she was booked into the detention center at 3:44 p.m. on suspicion of trespassing. A prosecutor later dismissed that charge.
The complaint traces the confrontation with jail staff to a disagreement about intake paperwork. Travis believes she had only her own documents, though she may have received papers belonging to another detainee. Jail reports indicate that a third detainee accused her of taking paperwork.
Around 8:40 p.m., four officers approached her: Brandon Davis, Viniece McBride, Jacob Webb and Louis Bulivant. Jail reports describe Travis lying on the floor and failing to stand when directed, but say she did not threaten anyone. Her complaint describes her leaning forward in a chair out of fear as staff approached and made contact.
McBride’s account states that Travis held onto the documents when officers tried to retrieve them and pulled her arm away. Travis alleges McBride sprayed Freeze + P, a tactical defense spray, into her face, causing severe pain, panic, difficulty breathing and hours of impaired vision. She says other officers forced her onto her stomach and restrained her legs.
According to the lawsuit, officers then moved Travis to a more isolated area and injected her with benzodiazepines. The complaint says a blood test nearly a week later detected the drug.
Travis alleges that two officers whose identities she does not yet know kicked her in the head and raped her. She intends to identify those officers through discovery in the civil case.
The complaint says Travis was released at 3:30 a.m. without being allowed to contact anyone. She alleges staff sent her out a rear door wearing socks, leaving her to walk downtown while disoriented before she located her husband at their hotel.
Travis then sought care at Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown, where, according to the complaint, she underwent a sexual assault examination. Five days later, she visited the University of Utah Hospital emergency department for abdominal pain and concussion symptoms and reported the assault there. The lawsuit says university police forwarded a report to MNPD.
She returned to the Utah hospital the following day with shortness of breath. The complaint describes continuing difficulties with balance, nausea and eye movements, along with headaches, sensitivity to light and sound, reading difficulties, disrupted sleep and other cognitive and emotional symptoms.
Travis is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Her complaint also alleges that no employees were disciplined and that a detention center supervisor acknowledged procedural mistakes in the investigation of the paperwork dispute.
The civil lawsuit and police investigation concern conduct alleged to have occurred inside a facility that opened in May 2020 under Sheriff Daron Hall. The sheriff’s office’s rejection of the allegations and MNPD’s ongoing investigation leave the claims contested as Travis pursues her case in federal court.