Erie Times-News
ERIE, Pa. — A homeless Army veteran is suing an Erie County Prison corrections officer, claiming the guard assaulted him in prison and left him brain-damaged.
Jerome McCallion, represented by Erie lawyer John Mizner, filed the civil rights complaint in U.S. District Court under the 8th Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit accuses the officer of excessive force and battery.
“The assault on Mr. McCallion caused him to suffer very serious injuries, including a life-threatening traumatic brain injury that required doctors to seek permission from the court to perform emergency surgery to save Mr. McCallion’s life and, later, a second brain injury developed that required a second brain surgery,” Mizner said.
“Sadly, Mr. McCallion has continued to suffer seizures, difficulty speaking, and other neurological difficulties as a result of the assault,” he said.
Gerry Mifsud, Erie County government’s director of administration, said the county has not yet received the complaint. He said lawyer Patrick Carey will be handling the lawsuit.
“We will respond once we see it,” he said.
McCallion, 63, is a homeless resident of Erie and honorably discharged Army veteran who served in Vietnam, according to the complaint.
It claims the assault occurred on May 12, 2011, while McCallion was housed in the restrictive housing unit of the Erie County Prison, 1618 Ash St. Erie County Court records indicate McCallion was serving a sentence for a 2010 harassment conviction and 2010 probation revocation on a charge of reckless endangerment.
McCallion claims Brian Ames, a corrections officer, came to McCallion’s cell to take him to the shower.
McCallion said he mistakenly believed he was going to the yard, so he turned in the wrong direction and started down a set of stairs when he exited his cell.
Another guard stopped McCallion and told him he was supposed to go to the shower instead, McCallion said.
McCallion claims he turned around and started back up the steps.
As he did, he claims, Ames became agitated and yelled “something to the effect of ‘I’m not going to put up with this anymore.e_SSRq”
McCallion claims when he reached the top of the stairs, Ames grabbed his handcuffed wrists with one hand and placed his other hand on the back of McCallion’s head and slammed it into a wall.
McCallion said he blacked out and woke up inside his cell, where, he said, Ames took him to the floor and another officer restrained his legs.
McCallion said he told the officers he was “done.”
As they were uncuffing him, he said, he knocked the key from an officer’s hand.
Other than that, McCallion claims, he did not defy or struggle with the officers.
A prison nurse gave him ice and ibuprofen, McCallion said.
However, on May 16, 2011, McCallion said, he was taken to Millcreek Community Hospital and then transferred to UPMC Hamot after he reported he was suffering from headaches.
Medical staff discovered McCallion had suffered a traumatic brain injury, bleeding between two layers of membrane surrounding the brain.
The psychiatrist on staff at the prison on May 17, 2011, obtained a court order directing that McCallion undergo emergency surgery.
Following the operation, McCallion said he suffered additional brain bleeding and underwent a second operation on May 23, 2011.
After he was discharged from the hospital on May 25, 2011, McCallion developed speech problems and seizures related to the head trauma he suffered in the prison, the lawsuit states.
He was admitted to the hospital again on July 1, 2011. At the time, he could say only one word over and over, “do,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit says McCallion was treated with anti-seizure medicines, which mostly restored his speech, but that he continues to suffer speech and neurological problems, including seizures and visual defects.
McCallion was paroled on Sept. 1, 2011, and remains homeless, according to the complaint.
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