Jerry Lawler has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hardeman County, Hardeman County Sheriff John Doolen and others for their alleged failure to protect his son and former WWE star Brian Lawler, Jerry Lawler’s attorneys announced Monday.

Brian Lawler, who died a year ago, was found hanging in an isolated cell in the Hardeman County Jail. His father has questioned whether the death was, in fact, a suicide.

Jerry Lawler is seeking $3 million in compensatory damages. He is also seeking punitive damages in an amount to be determined by the jury for what the firm of Rosenblum and Reisman called "numerous failures of the county and its employees that resulted in the wrongful death of his son."

Lawyer Jeffrey Rosenblum said during a press conference Monday afternoon that they are seeking a court order requiring Doolen to “immediately make changes” at the jail so no more suicides in confinement can occur.

Jerry Lawler said at the press conference that Doolen had promised him he would “personally keep an eye out” for Brian Lawler. He said he took a picture of Brian after he was taken to Regional One Medical Center and texted it to Doolen.

“And I said, ‘Remember when you told me that Brian would be safe? I believed you,’” Jerry Lawler said.

Doolen responded “I am sorry for your loss,” according to Lawler.

Requests for comment sent to Doolen and Hardeman County were not immediately returned Monday afternoon.

Lawsuit: Brian Lawler confined in cell with protruding bolts

The lawsuit says the defendants “failed to provide Brian with any treatment for his drug and alcohol issues” during his time at the jail and “altogether failed to provide him with appropriate care after he was assaulted by another inmate” July 28.

Brian Lawler had “a significant open wound above his eye” and urged jail staff to take him to the hospital because of a suspected concussion, the lawsuit alleges.

Instead, the defendants “put Brian into a solitary confinement cell without assessing him for potential suicide risk,” the lawsuit said. Large bolts protruding from the cell could be used as an anchor for the shoe laces used in the hanging, it said.

“Defendants had an obligation to protect Brian from harming himself but instead of protecting him, they put him in a cell by himself with perfectly placed anchors and shoe strings that could be used as a ligature,” the lawsuit said, adding that defendants had several chances on July 28 to protect him from harm.

The jail guards did not have a proper knife to cut Brian down after he hung himself, according to the lawsuit. Instead, they used children’s scissors to cut him down, it said.

Rosenblum said there’s no reason bolts should ever be protruding in a solitary confinement cell and no reason to let inmates enter cells with shoelaces they could use to hang from. He added that Brian Lawler had been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder and was on a number of medications for chronic pain and anxiety.

"When these cells are constructed, the instructions are to never have anything that can be used as an anchor," Rosenblum said. "So, at minimum, right now immediately go and shave those down and remove those (bolts)."

Brian Lawler, 46, was held at Hardeman County Jail after being charged with DUI, evading arrest and driving on a revoked license in Hardeman County. Hardeman County is about an hour east of Memphis.

After being found hanging in his cell, he was transported to Regional One Medical Center in Memphis, where he died, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"It’s just something you have to cope with on a daily basis,” Jerry Lawler said. “It never goes away, you think about it every single day. And what makes it worse, like Jeff (Rosenblum) said, is when you feel like it just didn’t have to happen."

Lawler’s family wants policies and training in place at the jail to protect and provide health care particularly to those who are in serious medical and mental distress and are “an obvious suicide risk.”

Last August, Jerry Lawler said he had doubts about whether his son actually died by suicide.

“A lot of people have expressed, as I have, doubts as to whether Brian really did commit suicide,” Lawler said on his “Dinner With The King” podcast. “We’ve been contacted by inmates that were in the jail with Brian that said they don’t believe what was told is actually what happened.”

Brian Lawler spent time in the WWE as Grandmaster Sexay, one half of the Too Cool tag team with Scotty 2 Hotty. Jerry Lawler is a WWE Hall of Famer.

Remembering Brian Lawler:Former WWE star remembered as a genuine 'showman'

Jail has seen another inmate death, allegedly poor pay

Another inmate at the Hardeman County Jail died less than two months after Brian Lawler did. The inmate, 59-year-old Gregory Kent Shearin, was found unresponsive in his cell’s bed, TBI said then.

Doolen sued Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain earlier this month over heavy budget cuts, the Jackson Sun reported. The lawsuit claims seven of the 27 jail employees are on government assistance because of inadequate pay, the report said.

"We want to get the case tried as quickly as possible because the citizens of Hardeman County need the protection," Doolen's lawyer Roy Herron said, according to the Jackson Sun. "These deputies and jailers need to be treated fairly as quickly as possible."

The Hardeman County Jail, in Bolivar, is run by the Hardeman County Sheriff’s Office and is separate from the Hardeman County Correctional Facility in Whiteville.