LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The family of a Louisville Metro Corrections inmate who died as a result of a suicide attempt while in custody has filed a federal lawsuit against staff members of the jail, claiming their negligence cost the inmate his life.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court on Monday, Garry Weatherill was booked into Louisville Metro Corrections on Dec. 27, 2021. The lawsuit said Weatherill was placed in a single cell to detox and given "special observation status," meaning that a corrections officer was required to check on him every 15 minutes.
Joshua Badgley, a corrections officer, was given this duty, according to the lawsuit, and was required to sign a sheet each time he visually checked on Weatherill, noting the time of each check.
Attorneys said that on Dec. 30 at 3:10 p.m., Officer Badgley checked on Weatherill and found him lying on the floor with one end of a sheet tied around his neck and the other end tied to a bed frame. Weatherill was "unresponsive, not breathing and grey in color," according to the lawsuit.
He was taken to UofL Hospital and placed on life support. Attorneys said that life support was removed days later on Jan. 3, 2022, and Weatherill died later that day.
The jail conducted an internal investigation and discovered that, while Weatherill was in custody, Officer Badgley did not check on him every 15 minutes, as required, according to the lawsuit. In several cases, time intervals between checks allegedly ranged from 18 to 43 minutes.
The interval before Officer Badgley found Weatherill on the floor was 24 minutes, according to the lawsuit.
Officer Badgley allegedly told investigators that Weatherill should have had an "inmate watcher" assigned solely to him, but according to the lawsuit, Badgley never requested one, despite two being in the vicinity at the time.
"Had Officer Badgley instructed a work-aid to sit and observe Inmate Weatherill and keep constant watch, it would have been noticed that Inmate Weatherill was tying a sheet and attempting to asphyxiate himself," the Louisville Metro Professional Standards Unit investigation found, according to the lawsuit.
"Officer Badgley, as well as other staff could have been alerted at or around the time Inmate Weatherill had tied the sheet around his neck which would have made chances of survival greater."
Weatherill's death is part of a larger pattern of deaths at the jail, the lawsuit claims. The suit cited ACLU figures noting that 12 people died within a 12-month period at the jail.
"Unfortunately, Weatherill's death is just one example in a pattern of similar deaths and incidents that occurred at LMDC," the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit accused the jail of violating Weatherill's civil rights, negligence and wrongful death. As a result, Weatherill's family is asking for compensation for -- among other things -- pain and suffering, medical expenses, funeral expenses, loss of income, loss of future income and attorneys fees.
The lawsuit names the city of Louisville, LMDC Director Jerry Collins, former LMDC Director Dwayne Clark, Officer Badgley and other jail staff as defendants.
WDRB has reached out to a jail spokesman. At the time of this writing, he has not provided any comment.
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