The parents of Conor Dolin have taken their fight to court, filing a wrongful-death lawsuit that claims their son’s 2022 crash was not just a tragedy, but the start of a chain of official failures that obscured what really happened.
The suit, filed Feb. 23 in Knox County Circuit Court, targets both the Knox County Sheriff's Office and the parents of the underage driver whose truck struck and killed Conor. The complaint accuses investigators of losing the original case file, deleting body-camera footage from the crash scene, and never finishing a formal crash reconstruction that might have clarified the events leading to the collision. The Dolin family is seeking $10 million from the driver's family, along with additional damages from Knox County.
According to reporting by the Knoxville News Sentinel, the lawsuit says the teen behind the wheel was 15 years old, unlicensed, and driving a truck registered to his father at the time of the crash. The complaint further alleges the family of the driver launched a GoFundMe that used Conor's name and image without permission, and that none of the donations ever reached the Dolins. Their attorney, Richie Collins, said the family spent more than two years pressing officials for answers that never fully materialized.
Alleged investigative failures
In the filing, the Dolins lay out what they describe as a cascade of errors and omissions by law enforcement. The initial investigative file, they say, went missing. No complete crash reconstruction was ever carried out. Body-camera footage from officers at the scene was deleted.
Those gaps, the family argues, undercut any chance of a thorough accounting of the wreck and made it harder to pursue criminal charges or civil accountability. Alongside negligence claims against the sheriff's office, the complaint levels negligent-supervision claims at the teen driver's parents, asserting they failed to prevent an unlicensed minor from getting behind the wheel of the truck.
Office reviews and prosecutorial choices
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that an internal review by the Knox County Sheriff's Office found only one disciplinary issue that Sheriff Tom Spangler ultimately approved: the loss of the investigative file.
The same reporting notes that in 2025, Knox County District Attorney Charme Allen declined, in an email, to request that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation step in to review the case. While the sheriff's office has pointed to its own internal review as proof that the matter was examined, the Dolins contend that the inquiry skipped over the very evidence gaps they later uncovered.
Where the case is filed
The complaint sits in Knox County Circuit Court, which handles civil wrongful-death suits at the City-County Building on Main Street, according to the county’s court information. The Knox County Circuit Court website lists clerk contacts, filing information, and docket details. Unless it is dismissed, transferred or settled out of court, the Dolin lawsuit will move through that civil docket.
Legal implications
The Dolins' complaint brings wrongful-death and negligent-supervision claims against the driver's family and negligence claims against the sheriff's office. If successful, such suits can result in compensatory damages and, in some cases, punitive damages meant to punish especially egregious conduct.
For the Dolin family, though, the filing says this case is not just about money. They argue the lawsuit is an attempt to force transparency and to spur changes in how fatal crashes involving minors are investigated in Knox County.
The case adds to a growing list of local legal challenges testing law-enforcement oversight in Tennessee. Court filings, docket activity, and official responses will determine what, if anything, changes next. We will track new motions and statements as they are filed and update this story accordingly.
