LOGAN — A West Virginia resident is suing the Logan County Sheriff's Department, Matthew Carter and John Does 1-5, law officers, citing alleged battery, negligent retention and hiring, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, destruction of evidence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Roy S. Chandler filed a complaint in Logan Circuit Court against the defendants alleging that they breached their duty of good faith and fair dealings.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that on Oct. 26, 2018, he suffered damages — including physical harm, extreme fear, torment, pain and suffering, embarrassment, inconvenience, emotional trauma, aggravation and damage to his reputation — as a result of unlawful conduct of officers for the Sheriff's Department in the assault, battery and arrest of plaintiff for being present at defendant Carter's home, without initially probing about the actual reason of plaintiff's presence at the property or to discover that plaintiff was dispatched for a carpet install job by his employer to the incorrect address.
The plaintiff holds the Logan County Sheriff's Department, Matthew Carter and John Does 1-5 responsible because the defendants allegedly retained certain employees despite knowledge of their tendency to abuse power, restrained and imprisoned plaintiff in the absence of lawful process, failed to provide adequate training and supervision to its employees and unlawfully seized and destroyed the plaintiff's cell phone.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against defendants for special and general injuries, exemplary and punitive damages, attorney's fees, costs of action, and other legal and equitable relief to which he is entitled. He is represented by Stephen P. New, Amanda J. Taylor and R. Jared Lowe of Law Office of Stephen P. New in Beckley.
Logan Circuit Court Case number 18-C-238