LOGAN — A carpet installer is suing sheriff's and police departments, and individuals who work for them, alleging outrage/intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery, negligent retention and hiring, false imprisonment, negligent training and supervision, and destruction/spoilation of evidence.
Earl Jones Jr. filed a complaint in Logan Circuit Court against the Logan County Sheriff’s Department, Matthew Carter in his capacity as an employee of Logan County Sheriff’s Department and individually, Gage Harvey in his capacity as an employee of Logan County Sheriff’s Department and individually, the West Virginia State Police, the Chapmanville Police Department and John Does 1-5, deputies, alleging that they intended to hold, restrain and imprison him in the absence of law process and purposely destroyed prospective evidence in the form of audio/video.
According to the complaint, Jones alleges that on Oct. 26, 2018, he was supposed to install a carpet at a client's residence but he and a co-worker unintentionally went to Carter's house. Carter and Harvey arrived with their guns drawn at the two contractors and beat them. Jones sustained excessive bruising, a broken rib and a punctured lung, among other injuries. The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible because they allegedly without warrant or lawful process physically beat Jones and and his co-worker and destroyed the co-worker's phone instead of clarifying first why the two men were there.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks exemplary and punitive damages, attorney's fees, costs and other legal and equitable relief to which the plaintiff may be 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 18C245