OCALA, Fla. – A Marion County family is suing the sheriff and several sheriff’s office employees after their son, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in the county jail.
The lawsuit was brought by the family of Scott Whitley III who died in November 2022. They’re accusing Sheriff Billy Woods of wrongful death, of violating Whitley’s 14th amendment rights and of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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The sheriff’s office said the detention deputies used pepper foam and electronic disabling devices to try to get Whitley to submit to restraints during a routine cell inspection. However, when he was carried out of his cell, they discovered Whitley wasn’t breathing.
Whitley had been in jail and was facing charges of resisting an officer with violence and violation of an injunction for protection against exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
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The lawsuit against the sheriff’s office said the agency knew about Whitley’s schizophrenia diagnosis. He had been taken into custody several times under the Baker Act, and his parents had asked law enforcement for help because they were concerned about their safety and Whitley’s.
On Nov. 16, 2022, according to the lawsuit, deputies said Whitley refused to leave the house and threatened to kill them. Tasers and chemical agents were deployed, and Whitley was taken into custody.
According to the lawsuit, Whitley was listed as a “suicide precaution inmate,” alleging the jail was aware of Whitley’s mental health issues. After he tried to escape his jail cell twice, the lawsuit said Whitley was left completely nude in a jail cell with a concrete slab to sit and sleep on.
The lawsuit said on the day of Whitley’s death, he did not respond to commands to submit to hand restraints during a cell inspection. The detention deputies were told to “just go in and grab the inmate,” according to the suit, and they rushed into the cell, took Whitley to the ground, and deployed Tasers several times, as well as chemical agents, while he screamed for help. The lawsuit claims Whitley didn’t fight back.
An investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney’s office representing Marion County found the deputies acted appropriately in following current policies, and recommended the agency implement hands-on defensive tactics training and researching “the use of chemical agents on subjects who are mentally deficient.”
The lawsuit, however, said the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and Woods, were responsible for what happened to Whitley because of the agency’s failure to accommodate inmates with mental illness.
“Woods and/or his predecessor turned a blind eye to his subordinates who would deny reasonable accommodations to prisoners and detainees, like Scotty, despite a known and obvious need for such accommodations, such as not providing extended mental health supervision, keeping prisoners and detainees with mental health disorders in confinement or unable to access services instead of accommodating their needs and punishing prisoners with disciplinary action because of their disability,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit also accuses the six detention deputies of violating the 14th Amendment through excessive use of force.
Marion So Lawsuit by Christie Zizo on Scribd
News 6 reached out to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office for comment, but has not heard back yet.
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