In a still from surveillance video, officers in the Montgomery County Jail in Dayton, Ohio, restrain Charles Wade as another officer pepper-sprays Wade in the face.Image from video
DAYTON, Ohio — A jail sued last year by a woman who said she was pepper-sprayed while in restraints is facing another lawsuit, this time from a man who says he went through the same ordeal, reports say.
The October 2016 incident at the Montgomery County Jail involving Charles Wade, 37, of Englewood, Ohio, was captured on video.
Wade was brought to the jail by an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper after being arrested on suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs and alcohol, whio.com reports.
Video footage shows Wade, with his wrists handcuffed behind his back, being searched by officers. While initially calm, Wade begins to pound his own head against the wall.
Officers then decide to put Wade in a seven-point restraint chair. Wade walks calmly to the chair, insisting he’s not resisting. Once seated and partially restrained, he begins to struggle and complains of discomfort as officers push him forward to unlock the handcuffs behind his back.
It’s then an officer walks up and pepper-sprays Wade as he’s held by four other officers. Wade can be heard gagging, saying “I can’t breathe, help me please!”
The Washington Post notes Wade was aware of the jail’s use of a restraining chair, having seen a viral video of Amber Swink from her arrest in November 2015. An officer pepper-sprayed Swink as she sat in the chair alone in a room, fully restrained.
Swink sued the jail in September.
The lawsuit against the jail was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court and names Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer, jail staff and management, the County Board of Commissioners and “any and all other jane and/or john does” as defendants, wdtn.com reports.
According to wdtn.com, multiple lawsuits have been filed against the jail. County commissioners have called for a federal investigation, a move that Sheriff Plummer tells whio.com is “political.” Plummer is a Republican, while the commissioners are all Democrats.
“We believe (Wade) was fighting with the officers,” Plummer tells whio.com. “And if you would just comply, we wouldn’t have that situation, OK? My officers have to go home to their families and their loved ones. We don’t pay them enough to fight people like that in that jail.”
Douglas Brannon, the lawyer representing both Wade and Swink, tells reporters that Plummer has lost control of the jail.
“I think it happened again because there was no discipline handed out to officers involved in abusing Amber Swink,” Brannon tells the Post. “I think this type of treatment is becoming something that happens with impunity within the Montgomery County jail.”
Amber Swink Pepper Sprayed By Police In the Face – Police Brutality
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