Special To The Plain Talk In a lawsuit filed Tuesday morning in Cocke County Circuit Court, a Greene County Jail inmate alleges he was denied basic hygienic necessities in an overcrowded Cocke County Jail, then was beaten, choked, and shocked with a police taser by sheriff's deputies who also taunted him with a police dog. The inmate filed the $3 million civil rights lawsuit on Tuesday against the Cocke County Jail, Sheriff D.C. Ramsey, Corrections Chief Michael McCarter, and eight current and former sheriff's deputies and jailers.
Danny Ray Allen Cutshall, who lists his address as the Greene County Detention Center in his complaint, filed the lawsuit through Greeneville attorney Tony G. Lee Jr. in Cocke County Circuit Court Tuesday morning. The lawsuit concerns incidents in which Cutshall claims he was assaulted by jail and sheriff's department employees in December 2004 and January 2005.
Defendants named in the complaint are the Cocke County Jail; Sheriff Ramsey; McCarter; and deputies and jailers Joe Dodgin, Laura Loveday, Johnny Black, Eric Rhinehart, Kevin Benton, Ron Smith, Derrick Cureton, and Ron Rice.
Cutshall alleges that he was transferred from the Greene County Detention Center to an overcrowded Cocke County Jail on December 23, 2004. After being booked into the facility, he received a floor sleeping mat, a blanket, and a uniform. Despite his request, "he was never issued sheets, towels, soap, or any other hygiene items," according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff claims he asked Jailer Loveday for those items on December 27, but was told, "I don't have any (expletive) towels or anything else you want." He claims he was moved into a holding cell on December 31 and told he would be moved to Blount County because of overcrowding in the Cocke County Jail.
About 4 p.m. that day, Jailer Loveday "opened the cell door and ordered Mr. Cutshall to remove some toilet paper from the security camera in the cell," the lawsuit alleges. "Mr. Cutshall refused to remove the toilet paper, saying, 'I didn't put it there, so I'm not taking it down.'"
At that point, Loveday is alleged to have replied, "I'm going to show you what Cocke County is all about; I'll be back in about ten minutes."
Cutshall claims that about ten minutes later, Deputy Dodgin opened the cell door, walked over to the inmate and "began choking him with both hands....As Mr. Cutshall began passing out, Deputy Dodgin pulled Mr. Cutshall up, turned him around, and slammed his head into the wall, hitting his forehead above the right eye, causing injury and his glasses to be damaged."
According to the civil lawsuit, while Dodgin was attacking the inmate, Deputy Black "was also in the cell, holding a barking police canine in the middle of the cell, keeping the other inmates at bay.
"Deputy Black came out of the cell and positioned the dog a few feet from Mr. Cutshall's head and teased the dog by loosening his grip, then pulling the dog back as it got close to [his] head on the floor. The dog was barking furiously, and came close enough that Mr. Cutshall could smell the animal's breath," the lawsuit alleges.
The other defendants in the case are alleged to have been "all watching the assault on Mr. Cutshall, and were jeering and verbally threatening [him] and the inmates watching from the open cell," the complaint continues.
Cutshall also alleges that he was denied medical treatment for the injuries he suffered in the alleged assault.
Then, on January 2, 2005, deputies Black, Rhinehart, and Benton are alleged to have entered Cutshall's cell and thrown the inmate to the floor on his stomach. "Deputy Black again held the police canine a few feet away from [the inmate's] head, baiting and teasing the dog as it barked and growled furiously," the complaint alleges.
Cutshall also alleges that Deputy Benton shocked him "about 20 times from his kidneys to the top of his shoulders and the base of [his] neck" with a police taser, a device intended to be used to control unruly inmates.
Cutshall alleges that he filed a formal jail grievance in connection with both incidents and that "several inmates wrote [General] Sessions Judge John A. Bell describing the treatment they and Mr. Cutshall had received at the hands of the Cocke County Sheriff's Department and the officers in the jail."
He claims that seven men had been held in the holding cell for five or more days "without showers, phone calls, exercise/recreation, or contact with attorneys or any family. Many had no sleeping mats, only blankets, and some had nothing to sleep on on the concrete floor and slab benches."
The complaint claims that Judge Bell ordered that the inmates be transferred into the general jail population and that they be given appropriate supplies. A hearing in the case was held before the jail grievance committee on January 5, during which Cutshall requested that he be returned to Greene County, he alleges.
Corrections Chief McCarter denied that request, but is alleged to have agreed to move Cutshall to the old county jail on the third floor of the Cocke County Courthouse and place him on trusty status, where he could earn two-for-one credits on his jail sentence.
McCarter "stated that Mr. Cutshall would probably be safer at the old jail, as the road officers don't come there much."
In his complaint, attorney Lee alleges that Cutshall's federal constitutional right against "cruel and unusual punishment" were violated in the local jail and is asking for $3 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Chief of Corrections McCarter confirmed Tuesday evening that he and other officials are aware of the lawsuit, but said jail policy forbids public comment on pending litigation.
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