Three Richmond County inmates have filed civil-rights lawsuits against Sheriff Richard Roundtree and the jail guards involved in a 2022 flooding incident.
Inmates Naytrone Adams, Jamarius Walker and Brandon Jones claim the officers tortured them on May 7, 2022, despite the inmates posing no risk and placing their heads down and their hands behind their backs in surrender.
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The three lawsuits – filed this month by Attorney Joseph Rhodes in Richmond County Superior Court – names Sheriff Roundtree as the first defendant in his capacity as sheriff. He was not present during the jail incident. The six other defendants are the officers arrested and fired by the sheriff’s office after a jailhouse video showing their involvement surfaced this year.
The co-defendants include Investigator Johnny Atkinson, Investigator Austin Birch, Cpl. Daniel D’Aversa, Deputy Melissa Morello, Deputy Dantavion Jones and retired jail Lt. John Whitaker.
In body-cam video, jailers are seen arriving in the pod, which the inmates had apparently flooded by breaking sprinklers in protest of broken toilets. While several inmates have their hands up in apparent surrender, the officers forced them from the second floor into the first floor to lay handcuffed in the pool of water.
In the most detailed lawsuit, Adams claims he was punched repeatedly by Atkinson and then placed in a chokehold until he passes out into the water. He says Birch also kicked and stepped on him.
“(Morello) then exclaims to the other inmates that they should think twice before misbehaving,” the suit says.
The suit claims that the video makes it clear that the officers’ behavior is “one of policy” of the sheriff’s office and they were “familiar with the procedure of torturing the plaintiff.”
The officers’ actions constitute cruel and unusual punishment, a direct violation of the eighth amendment, the suit says.
“The defendants did not act in good faith with the intent to restore order,” the suit says. “Order was already established at the time the defendants engaged in torture.”
The suit claims the officers acted maliciously and sadistically with the intent to cause pain, part of a persistent and widespread practice of allowing excessive force and deprivation of rights incidents. It claims the sheriff’s office failed to properly train and supervise officers while being indifferent to the needs of its citizens.
In his suit, Adams seeks damages for pain and suffering and mental anguish from the fear of imminent death at the hands of the officers. It also seeks punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
Background. In February, a RCSO press release said internal affairs officers were first made aware of the 2022 incident this year when the body-cam video was sent to them.
“After the review of body camera and surveillance videos, it was determined that the amount of force used in response to the call was unnecessary,” a press release said.
The sheriff’s office declined to release the full video, saying it is considered evidence in a pending prosecution and exempt from disclosure.
Cpl. D’Aversa, Deputy Morello, Deputy Jones and Investigator Birch were each charged with one count of misdemeanor battery felony violation of oath of a public officer. Investigator Atkinson, 45, and retired Lt. Whitaker were both charged with aggravated assault, battery and violation of oath of a public officer.
A lawsuit only represents one side of the story. The sheriff’s office has previously declined to comment on pending litigation.
