ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — The family of 87-year-old Church of Christ elder Johnny H. Moton says a cardiac emergency on Jan. 30, 2024 ended in his death, and a two-year fight for answers that has now led to a $2.5 million notice of claim against the Dougherty County Board of Commissioners.

“My dad was a servant leader. He was a visionary. He loved helping people. He loved his students. And he loved his family,” said Charlotte Moton, Johnny’s daughter and executor of his estate.

Charlotte says her father put all three of his children through school debt-free, built houses as a general contractor, and served his church for decades.

“At my dad’s funeral, there were over 2,500 people who viewed his funeral from all over the world,” she said.

Sharing a story told at his funeral to describe his reach: “He said, ‘As long as I’m alive, I’ll be your father.’”

The night of Jan. 30, 2024

Charlotte says she had been at her parents’ house all day. Both parents had tested positive for COVID. She left, then got a call from her mother saying her father wouldn’t take his medicine, then a second call while driving back.

“She told me that my dad, she found him face down after she heard the thump in the bedroom between the wall and the bed,” she said.

She says she ran inside to the back bedroom where one EMT kneeled next to her father and she was told that he was in cardiac arrest.

Charlotte says she and her mother never left him alone.

“So at no point was my dad left without either me or both of us in the room with him,” she said.

At Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, she says the waiting room overflowed with supporters. Then, doctors came out to tell the family they got a pulse, but his brain had been deprived of oxygen for some time.

Moton was moved to the MICU and later declared brain dead. He died Feb. 6, 2024.

Months later, Charlotte says she showed her mother video of what CPR looks like. Her mother said that never happened.

Moton says the county’s own paperwork tells two different stories about the same night, and hospital records disprove one of them.

Local, then state investigation

Charlotte says she first asked the county EMS to investigate locally and she says once it was complete, the county wouldn’t share their report.

Then, she emailed the state regional director, who connected her to the trauma EMS director for the area. That investigation concluded CPR was done.

“He said, ‘Just because you don’t like the outcome of what you heard, doesn’t mean that what you’re saying is true,’” she said.

The conflicting reports

With help filing an open records request, Charlotte says she asked specifically for the EKG log and heart-monitor data strips. She says she received only two EMS reports and no strips:

Incident #24002014 describes ALS resuscitation in the back bedroom. Incident #24002016 states and logs the call as “No Patient Contact.”

Hospital records, the family says, show Moton arrived by ambulance at 19:40 (7:40 p.m.), with history provided by EMS. The family also alleges audit logs show the county files were opened and modified more than 10 times on Jan. 29, 2025, two days after the Department of Public Health Region 8 opened its inquiry.

When she asked current EMS director, James Gibney, for the strips, she says she was told, “we do not have records, EKG, and data strip records on your daddy. We have no records.”

Charlotte said, “For months and months, at every level, I have been stonewalled.”

What the family wants

Beyond the $2.5 million claim served Sept. 30, 2026, Charlotte says they want a formal public review by the commissioners.

“We want accountability. We want the commissioners to have full transparency over what’s happening. Because we are all at risk,” she said. “When you call on EMS, make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.”

County response

WALB requested an interview with County Attorney Alex Shalishali.

In an email, he wrote:

“Because this matter relates to potential litigation, the County is not in position to comment publicly on the allegations or the specific issues identified in your inquiry. The County will address the matter through the appropriate legal and administrative process.”

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