A developmentally disabled employee of the Alabama Department of Transportation is suing the department, and several of his co-workers, for an assault he was subjected to that his supervisors failed to stop, as reported by the Courthouse News Service.
The victim, just over 5 feet tall and weighing 125 pounds, claims to have been duct-taped to a pole, sodomized with a Mountain Dew soda bottle and then later, saw photos of the incident put up on Facebook.
J.M. has named 13 co-workers and supervisors from the Oneonta facility in the lawsuit seeking compensative and punitive damages for civil rights violations, disability discrimination, false imprisonment, retaliation, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and supervision and invasion of privacy.
The lawsuit states that the victim was on a cigarette break when defendants C.S. lunged for him and B.T. restrained him. According to the suit, "The men then dragged (J.M.) to the hydraulic lift pole located in the Oneonta ALDOT garage, retrieved duct tape from an ALDOT vehicle, and bound him to the pole with the duct tape. Defendants placed (J.M.) facing the pole and then duct taped his wrists together around the pole. They taped his head so that he could not move it, and taped around his torso to keep him still. Although this is not the first time that these men have restrained the plaintiff in this fashion, their actions on this day did not stop with false imprisonment."
The men then proceeded to yank down J.M.'s trousers, assault him with a metal lift bar across his buttocks, and then someone sodomized him with the soda bottle. J.M. claims that he was unable to see who assaulted him with the bottle, however, he was shown the bottle just before.
Allegedly after J.M.'s attackers took photographs, supervisor D.W. was called over by several defendants. D.W. then "left his office and joined the group inside the garage. Instead of taking any actions to assist (J.M.), (D.W.) instead approached the plaintiff and placed a baby bottle in his mouth."
J.M. was led to believe that the baby bottle, which may have been used once by the workers to aid puppies found on the road, was allegedly filled with milk from one of the injured dogs.
The suit states that J.M. "remained duct taped to the hydraulic pole for between half and hour to an hour. During that period of time…another supervisor, witnessed the ongoing assault and did nothing to help plaintiff, other than instruct the others to cut him down."
J.M. did not immediately report the incident to authorities as his co-workers allegedly threatened him. When the offensive photographs found their way onto Facebook J.M. lodged a formal complaint with ALDOT. However, "after the assault various co-workers would taunt plaintiff about it at every opportunity. Plaintiff's derogatory nickname amongst his co-workers is 'killer,' and whenever someone purchased a Mountain Dew beverage one of the defendants would say 'Watch out for Mountain Dew, killer,' or words to that effect."
After he filed his complaint, J.M. claims that he was denied overtime and in August he was suspended.
J.M. "was afraid to tell his former wife (to whom he was engaged at the time of the assault) the details of what he had endured, but eventually did so after seeking therapy. Unfortunately, the emotional distress plaintiff suffered and continues to suffer caused significant problems in his marriage, which was terminated by divorce in July 2012."
If you have suffered with an emotional or physical injury due to the actions or inactions of another party, you have grounds for a lawsuit. File for your damages when you contact a personal injury lawyer.