As reported by the Wichita Eagle, a mentally ill prison inmate, his bones broken during a beating by a sheriff after he had spent four months in solitary confinement and failed to take his medication, is the subject of a personal injury lawsuit.
On February 15, 2008, D.R. Jr. was rendered unconscious after a beating – over 20 punches according to the lawsuit – by jail Deputy M.D., a man 70 pounds heavier and nearly 35 years younger.
D.R. Jr.’s injuries included a jaw so badly broken that the bone was exposed and he was admitted to a hospital’s intensive care unit.
The year prior to D.R. Jr.’s beating, M.D. was involved in 14 other lawsuits involving use-of-force at Sedgwick County Jail.
The suit names Deputy M.D., Sedgwick County and the contractor, Conmed, which operates the jail’s medical clinic. Also named are the former and present county sheriffs. D.R. Jr.’s son R.R filed the suit in Wichita federal court. R.R. claims in the suit that the jail failed to supervise, remove or suspend M.D. for his use of excessive force.
D.R. Jr.’s intensive care stay added up to a hospital bill of $628,000.
Attorney Arthur Chalmers is defending the sheriffs. He says the use of the term “beating” in the suit is improper as it “is used in the inflammatory sense.” He also stated that the sheriffs named in the suit are “entitled to qualified or absolute immunity from plaintiff’s federal law claims.”
The suit further claims that D.R. Jr. was part of in both a “highly vulnerable” and “unprotected class” of inmates that are “currently being denied their civil rights as it relates to treatment for their mental illness.”
The lawsuit strives to “aid in ultimately protecting the rights of those hundreds of mentally ill inmates currently housed” in Sedgwick County Jail.
Allegedly, prior to the beating, inmates that were kept awake by D.R. Jr. knocking on his cell door told M.D., “Just let us in there and beat his ass or something. So Officer (M.D.) said naw. Plus I don’t like paperwork, you know I’m gonna do it myself. I’m gonna make it worthwhile…”
D.R. Jr. later died of stomach cancer in February 2010 while living in a nursing home, approximately two years after the beating.
The lawsuit goes on to detail that D.R. Jr. was not consistently taking his medication and was ill-treated prior to the beating. In his deteriorated state he was subjected to isolation, inmates sprayed him with a chemical, his food and face were spat on and he was called vulgar names.
M.D. was fired by the Sheriff’s Office in October 2008 for “conduct unbecoming” and breaking the law. When M.D. was sentenced for this incident he said, “What I did that day was unreasonable and uncalled for.”
At the time of D.R. Jr.’s beating he was awaiting an evaluation to determine if he was mentally competent enough to stand trial.
If you have been injured, whether during an incarceration or not, contact a personal injury lawyer to file a lawsuit, Policy changes, as well as monetary awards, are often the outcome of a lawsuit.