A Fayette County inmate who was allegedly beaten at the hands of three corrections officers is now suing the county and those officers.
Robert Stimmell alleges that the officers beat him while he was handcuffed and shackled during his ‘jail intake’ earlier this month.
His injuries were reportedly so severe he had to be hospitalized with a brain bleed.
The lawsuit complaint alleges Stimmell was not resistive or combative.
“Even if Mr. Stimmell had expressed frustration or made statements at some point during his arrest or intake, he was handcuffed, shackled, outnumbered by three officers and complying with orders when the Corrections Defendants beat him,” court documents say.
Stimmell’s attorney also alleges county officials knew about a broader pattern of excessive-force complaints, but failed to stop it.
“The beating was the predictable result of Fayette County’s long-standing custom of tolerating excessive force at the jail, failing to discipline officers who used it, and leaving its intake strip-search area unmonitored,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also says the processing area in the Fayette County Jail is “notorious” for being outside of the area captured by video surveillance.
Stimmell is 5 feet 4 inches and weighs around 120 pounds.
Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele told Channel 11 last week that two of the officers were fired and the third was suspended for 10 days.
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