Lorain County Sheriff's Office sued over alleged assault by corrections officer in 2022

A Norwalk man alleges in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland on Monday that Lorain County Jail corrections officers assaulted him while he was an inmate at the jail last year. Franklin Ward, 40, sued the Lorain County Sheriff's Office, the Lorain County Jail, Lorain County corrections officer Shea Adkisson and 10 other unnamed corrections officers in federal court. The lawsuit, which misnames Adkisson as "Shay Atkinson," said that the corrections officer assaulted Ward "with no warning or justification" after Ward was booked into the Lorain County Jail in December 2022. Adkisson "placed Plaintiff Ward in a choke hold where he lost consciousness," according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges assault and battery, excessive force, failure to prevent excessive force, failure to train, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It seeks more than $150,000 in compensatory and punitive damages each, on each of the six counts alleged, along with court costs, interest and attorney fees. Ward is represented by attorney Brett Murner of Wellington, for whom a message seeking additional comment was left Thursday. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela Barker. According to his lawsuit, Ward was booked into the jail on a felony drug possession charge on Dec. 1, 2022, and placed in holding for observation. As Adkisson got Ward from holding to transfer him to another area of the jail, Ward said he dropped his jail-provided ID bracelet. That's when Adkisson assaulted Ward, according to Ward's lawsuit, hitting him in the head and upper body. When Ward regained consciousness, other unnamed corrections officers allegedly also beat him. Ward said he was handcuffed, placed in a restraint chair and had a seizure. He ended up spending 11 days at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, according to his lawsuit. When Ward was returned to custody at the jail, he alleged he was placed in isolation for 60 days, where he had "little to no communications with his attorney, friends or family" for "no known infraction that would have warranted this punishment." The lawsuit called it "some poorly thought out cover-up" of the earlier assault, and that Ward was physically and psychologically damaged by his treatment in jail. Lorain County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Dan Petticord, legal counsel to the Sheriff's Office, referred a reporter to county policy of not commenting on pending litigation. David Edwards, Lorain County Corrections Union director, called Adkisson "a highly, highly regarded officer at the Sheriff's Office" and that it was Adkisson who saved Ward's life after Ward tried to swallow a bag of drugs he had smuggled into the jail. "I now know this was Officer Adkisson being proactive attempting to prevent the said inmate from swallowing a bag of drugs," Edwards wrote in a statement to the Chronicle. He said he didn't know if Adkisson was successful and couldn't comment on Ward's health situation. Based on the arrest that sent him to the jail in the first place, Ward was charged with felony cocaine possession and misdemeanor obstructing. He pleaded guilty to the felony in Lorain County Common Pleas Court and was sentenced to three years probation by Judge Melissa Kobasher in June, according to court records. Ward's lawsuit was not the first federal lawsuit filed against jail staff this year, and is among several other incidents that have recently put jail staff in the public eye. They are: Meinke and Romero v. Stammitti In July, inmates Nolan Meinke and Jose Romero filed a pro se federal lawsuit — without legal representation — against Sheriff Phil Stammitti and multiple corrections officers. It alleged excessive force and violations of due process and the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. The men said the jail was denying their rights to get mail, that a jail corrections sergeant threatened Meinke with sexual assault and that supervisors failed to discipline corrections officers who physically abused inmates, among other matters. U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent rejected all of the inmates' allegations and dismissed their lawsuit in October, according to federal court records. Brooks v. Stammitti A complaint filed by accused killer and jail inmate Ivan Brooks remains pending in U.S. District Judge David Ruiz's courtroom. There have been no filings in that case since Brooks sued Stammitti and jail staff in April. Brooks, whose fourth murder trial in three years is expected to go forward in Kobasher's court in February after three previous hung juries, alleged in a pro se lawsuit that jail staff withheld his mail, assaulted him in March, violated his religious freedoms by discontinuing religious services during the COVID-19 pandemic and failed to feed him appropriately. The county and jail staff have yet to answer Brooks' lawsuit in federal court, according to court records. Brooks is charged with murdering Terrence Taylor, 45, in Elyria in March 2019. Phillips v. Cantwell Lisa Phillips of Carlisle Township sued the Sheriff's Office and jail staff, the Elyria Police Department and several officers in federal court in July following an arrest in Elyria and weekend stay at the jail in August 2021. Phillips alleged Elyria police arrested her without probable cause, and that jail staff were "intentional, malicious, willful, oppressive and in deliberate disregard" of Phillips' rights during the two days she spent in jail. Attorneys for the county denied all the allegations against their clients in a court filing on Sept. 26. The case is set for a hearing in federal court in June 2024. That lawsuit is assigned to Judge Christopher Boyko. Jeffrey Fry incident The Sheriff's Office and Lorain County Prosecutor's Office provided evidence to the FBI in June after the federal agency started a civil rights investigation into serious injuries suffered by an Elyria man while being booked into the jail in mid-May. Jeffrey Fry had to be hospitalized in Cleveland after he was thrown or fell to the ground while in the care and custody of Corrections Officer Brian Tellier on May 12. His injuries were initially described as paralyzing. The incident was caught on video. An internal investigation recommended Tellier face discipline for falsifying records and physically mistreating a prisoner in his care. At the time, Stammitti told the Chronicle that he didn't think Tellier — who is the son-in-law of Jail Administrator James Gordon — had any malicious intent toward Fry. Sheriff's Lt. Mike Crum wrote in an internal investigative report that he and other experts in use of force with the Sheriff's Office found Tellier's use of force "inappropriate and excessive" when handling Fry. Tellier remained on the job with no duty restrictions even after Crum's report was released. Edwards referred a reporter's questions about Tellier to Sheriff's Office command staff. Fry's attorney, Nick DiCello, has said publicly that he is considering filing a federal lawsuit. No such suit had been filed in federal court as of the end of the day Thursday. Corrections officer charged Corrections officer Rueben Ortiz was charged with misdemeanor assault and falsification in Elyria Municipal Court in October after he allegedly hit a 34-year-old jail inmate up to 15 times during an incident on Aug. 25. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The 51-year-old North Ridgeville resident was placed on paid administrative leave pending internal and criminal investigations, the Sheriff's Office said. His next court appearance is set in Judge Robert White's courtroom on Jan. 3, according to municipal court records. He is represented by the corrections union's attorney, George Gerken. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.