A 33-year-old Westmoreland County Prison inmate who claims he was violently beaten by six guards earlier this year at the Hempfield lockup is seeking $225,000 in a federal lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated.
James Mapp, 33, of Roswell, N.M, filed the three-count civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh Thursday against former corrections officer Jeremy B. Lynn, 38, of Ligonier Township, and five other unnamed guards listed in the 10-page complaint as “John Doe.”
“Mr. Mapp was brutally assaulted by Mr. Lynn and unprotected by his yet unidentified co-defendants as he was being processed into the Westmoreland County Prison. The attack took place while Mr. Mapp was handcuffed and defenseless,” said his attorney, John F. Mizner of Erie.
“Luckily for Mr. Mapp, his assault was seen by the Manor Chief of Police George Valmassoni who intervened on behalf of Mr. Mapp to stop the violence, and then immediately reported the assault,” Mizner said.
Lynn was fired May 18 after an investigation. Criminal charges of official oppression and simple assault were filed against Lynn May 19 by county Detective Ray Dupilka.
Prison officials said a second guard was suspended after the incident, but was not criminally charged.
The lawsuit claims Mapp has been afflicted with mental illness his entire life and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he was 17 years old.
Mapp was arrested April 30 by Manor police for allegedly breaking into a home of a former girlfriend on Observer Street, according to the lawsuit. It was the second time that week police were called to the home.
The lawsuit contends Mapp was compliant during his arrest and at his arraignment before Rostraver District Judge Charles Christner, who ordered him jailed on $50,000 bond.
When he arrived at the prison, staffers approached the handcuffed Mapp with a protective mask he was required to wear because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the lawsuit. Mapp resisted, according to court documents.
“In his manic state, Mapp felt that the mask represented the covid-19 coronavirus and believed it symbolized the illness,” the lawsuit states.
Several other prison staffers, including Lynn, entered the booking room, where Mapp was ordered to kneel on a bench so officers could remove his handcuffs and restraint belt to return to Manor Police.
“Mapp responded that he wouldn’t kneel for any man, only for God,” the lawsuit states, drawing from the criminal complaint filed by Dupilka.
Mapp was tackled to the floor by several corrections officers, where he was violently assaulted by Lynn and an unnamed second guard, the lawsuit contends.
“Mr. Mapp was still fully restrained and could not resist or defend himself in any way. Mr. Mapp began screaming and begging for the police to assist him,” the lawsuit states.
“At one point, the Manor police chief went over to defendant Lynn and grabbed his shoulder advising him to stop striking Mapp,” the lawsuit contends.
Mapp was taken by ambulance to Excela Health Westmoreland hospital in Greensburg for treatment.
The lawsuit said that Mapp, who remains in the prison awaiting trial on burglary and related counts, still suffers pain in his back, neck and chest areas. He also still experiences “tingling” in his right arm and had a filling in a tooth knocked out during the assault, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims that his the assault violated the 8th and 14th Amendments under the U.S. Constitution prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment at the hands of government and right right to due process was violated.
“The assault on Mr. Mapp was not done for any legitimate … purpose,” the lawsuit states.
Warden John Walton declined comment on the lawsuit Friday.
Mapp was arrested two times within 24 hours, according to court records. Police said he was found April 30 inside a home in Manor and left water running in a second-floor bathtub, causing damage to a floor and dining room.
A day earlier, Mapp was discovered inside the vacant residence, and officers found he had spray painted a wall in a second-floor bedroom. He told police during the first incident he intended to return to New Mexico.
No charges were filed in the initial case after police consulted the homeowner.
Lynn could not be reached for comment. His preliminary hearing is scheduled July 31.
Original Article By: Paul Peirce, a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at ppeirce@triblive.com.