Man with mental health issues brutally beaten while in handcuffs by SC officer, lawsuit says
.jpg "A homeless man with mental health issues was beaten by an officer while in handcuffs in a jail cell, lawsuit alleges.")
A homeless man suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is suing the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office and a former detention officer, alleging he was severely beaten while in handcuffs in custody.
Eldred Joe, 30, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct on May 3, 2023.
Officers with Bennettsville Police Department were dispatched to a call regarding reports of a suspicious male attempting to pull up bushes from various businesses, the lawsuit says.
Joe resisted at the scene and in the detention center but police officers were able to control him and place him in a cell.
The lawsuit says after they left, detention officer Morgan Ridges went into the cell and “began brutalizing” Joe. The lawsuit alleges the officer pinned Joe to the floor with his foot, stood on, stomped and struck his head then punched him in the face.
Bennettsville Police officers had been dispatched to take Joe to McLeod Hospital for a mental evaluation.
“When officers arrived at Plaintiff’s cell, he was laying in the fetal position while rocking back and forth and yelling ‘Lord help me,’” the lawsuit says.
Joe spent 12 days in the hospital, the lawsuit says.
Ridges was arrested in June 2023 and charged with misconduct in office and assault and battery and is awaiting trial.
The disorderly conduct charge against Joe was dismissed in January.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florence.
Joe is represented by Strom Law Firm attorneys Bakari Sellers, Mario Pacella, Amy Willbanks, Alexandra Benevento, and Matthew Robins.
“Stories like this where men and women are beaten, brutalized, dehumanized and even killed in jails across America, often by the officers pledged to guard and protect them, are all too common and that’s just the ones we know about,” Sellers said in a news release. “Eldred’s Joe’s only crime was that he was sick. Officer Ridges didn’t beat him because he was violent or some kind of threat. He did it because he could and because he believed no one would care.”