By Jodi Weigand
The Valley News-Dispatch
TARENTUM, Pa. — The family of a Rayburn Township woman who police say was murdered by an Armstrong County Jail escapee has filed a wrongful death suit against Armstrong County, the jail and former warden David Hogue.
Robert Edward Crissman Jr. is charged with first-degree murder in the beating and strangulation death of Tammy Long, 55, on July 30.
Crissman, 38, escaped from the jail that morning while taking breakfast trays into the jail.
He ran from the unfenced jail to Long’s home, which is within sight of it, to see her boyfriend, Terry Slagle. Slagle was a friend of Crissman’s.
According to the suit, Slagle left for work and came home at 2:30 p.m. and found Long’s body. Crissman wasn’t there, and Long’s truck was missing. Crissman was apprehended the next day after a high-speed chase.
The lawsuit, filed by Long’s son and daughter, Todd and Tara Long, alleges that Crissman’s escape was a direct result of “misuse of authority, as evidenced by defective policies and conduct.”
“The jail’s deliberate and conscious decisions concerning said policies demonstrate deliberate intent and/or willful deliberate indifference to the residents of the community in which the jail operated,” it says.
John Bechtol, the Armstrong County jail oversight board’s solicitor, said he would not comment on pending litigation “other than to say that the county intends to defend itself rigorously.”
County Commissioner David Battaglia, who is a jail board member, declined to comment. He referred questions to Bechtol and jail board President Rich Fink, who did not return calls. Fink also is a county commissioner.
A phone number for Hogue could not be found, as has been the case previously.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Pittsburgh, says the county, jail and Hogue:
• Did not properly screen Crissman for suitability for a trusty program, which the lawsuit calls “trustees,” that gave inmates special privileges and work release. The program originally was intended to be limited to those who were in jail for drunken driving or child support payment violations, according to the lawsuit.
• Did not provide direct supervision of trusty inmates beyond a guard remotely watching them via security cameras, opening electronic doors as they passed through, including a door to the outside. That guard, sitting in a central control station inside the jail, was responsible for monitoring 120 surveillance cameras.
• Failed to drug test Crissman and assigned him to the trusty program even though he was “exhibiting obvious symptoms of drug withdrawal” from heroin. Symptoms included uncontrollable bowel moments and vomiting in his jail cell.
• Did not have a warning siren to alert nearby residents that a potentially dangerous inmate had escaped. Slagle testified at Crissman’s preliminary hearing that they didn’t know Crissman had escaped from jail.
According to the lawsuit, Crissman should not have been permitted to be in the trusty program because he “was a known drug user who also had a record of significant criminal behavior which included theft, criminal trespassing, breaking and entering, driving under the influence and use/possession of drugs.”
At the time of his escape Crissman had been in the jail for a week on his fourth parole violation.
According to the lawsuit, one of the trusty jobs was “tray duty,” to which Crissman was assigned. He passed through seven sets of doors that were opened remotely from the central control center.
Crissman and another trusty went through the kitchen and outside unattended to wait for a van to deliver meals on trays. Inmates often propped the exterior door open.
The morning of his escape, according to the suit, Crissman ran away from the jail, which is not fenced in, while waiting for the delivery van. One of the inmates alerted a guard.
The guard radioed the central control center, which contacted a lieutenant. He tried to call Hogue three times but got no response, according to the suit.
By then, the suit says, nearly 15 minutes had passed until the jail lieutenant called 911.
Suit cites 2 inquiries
The lawsuit references an investigation by the Armstrong County District Attorney’s Office that referenced deficient policies for the trusty program.
The report indicated a lack of guards and no policies about trusties working outside of the jail may have also contributed to Crissman’s escape.
The lawsuit also references a report done by Corporate Security and Investigations that said the jail staff was unprepared, under-trained and had a lack of faith in the warden. CSI’s investigation was considered to be extensive and involved review of jail policies, security camera footage and interviews of jail administrators and a review of Crissman’s previous incarcerations at the jail.
“The CSI report recognized a general complacency and lack of discipline that existed among jail employees, supervisors and inmates,” the lawsuit states. “The fact that the corrections officer in control of watching the video monitors ‘nodded off’ during the critical time that Crissman escaped is emblematic of such complacency.”
The Long family is seeking unspecified damages including the cost of Tammy Long’s funeral expenses, the cost of administering her estate, compensation for pain and suffering and punitive damages.