HUNTINGTON – A Huntington man who was struggling with opioid addiction claims five city police officers maliciously assaulted and battered him, breaking his neck and leaving him paralyzed for life.
David L. Roseberry filed a federal lawsuit against Huntington Police Officer Ben Butler and four unnamed officers November 5.
“This is another example of excessive force that is deplorable, unacceptable and should not be tolerated in our state,” attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record. “The Huntington police senselessly and brutally beat David Roseberry, breaking his neck and leaving him disabled for the rest of his life.”
diTrapano
According to the complaint, Roseberry was asleep in his Chevrolet Malibu at the intersection of 3rd Street and 12th Avenue on September 11, 2020. His girlfriend Angela Adkins and her young child were in the car as well. Roseberry says he was struggling with opioid addiction.
“Despite the compassionate and laudable public-facing efforts by the City of Huntington in dealing with the opioid crisis and those personally affected by it, an employee of the City of Huntington, Ben Butler, seized on plaintiff David Roseberry’s infirmity and brutally beat him, causing irreparable damage to his spinal cord and leaving him with lasting injuries,” the complaint states. “When Mr. Roseberry woke in the car, he could feel fists punching him about the face and head through the driver’s side window of the vehicle.”
Roseberry says he then was dragged from the vehicle by Butler to the rear of a parked HPD cruiser while several other HPD vehicle were present. He says he was beaten and mistreated by the officers while he lie on the ground in a defenseless position.
He says he “was beaten about the head, face and body.”
“He was kicked and punched by Officer Butler and Officers Doe 1-4, and one officer used his boots to stomp and jump on Mr. Roseberry’s back,” the complaint states. “Mr. Roseberry did nothing to provoke this savage attack, and the officers’ actions were all done under the color of law as they were acting as police officers while they committed these wholly unwarranted, unprovoked and unlawful actions.”
According to the criminal complaint, Butler said Roseberry became combative upon his attempt to remove him from the vehicle and grasped the steering wheel.
Hospital records show Roseberry was 5’10” and 156 lbs. that day, but the criminal complaint says “it took multiple officers to gain control … enough to secure him in handcuffs.”
Roseberry says he then was dragged to an HPD cruiser and taken to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where he was found to have cranial lacerations, a broken nose, soft-tissue injuries to his eye sockets and facial bones as well as serious injuries of his cervical spine at C5, C6 and C7 with severe spinal stenosis at C5-C7.
He left the hospital September 13, but returned September 19 with worsening neck pain. Surgery was performed on September 21 to repair his spine, and he was discharged the following day.
The following month, Roseberry’s attorneys requested any camera footage of the incident, but HPD said it did not have any body-cam or dash-cam footage of it. On November 4, 2021, Roseberry’s attorneys were told by HPD that dash-cam footage did exist, but it was exempt from being shared with them.
Roseberry accuses the officers of excessive force, illegal seizure of plaintiff’s person, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
He seeks compensatory damages for past and future economic losses and expenses, general damages for past and future medical bills, mental suffering, emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, conscious pain and suffering, permanent injuries and other damages. He also seeks punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Roseberry is being represented by diTrapano, Benjamin D. Adams and Sean Shriver of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston as well as by William Forbes and Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia case number 3:21-cv-591