CHARLESTON – The estate of man who died in custody has filed a lawsuit blaming the state jail authority and its medical provider for his death.
Lisa M. Huffman, administrator of the estate of Nathan Jonah Kennedy, filed her complaint February 21 in Kanawha Circuit Court against the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Wexford Health Services, Jason Hutson, Corporal Reed, Corporal Wells and unnamed DCR employees. Hutson is the superintendent at the North Central Regional Jail in Doddridge County.
According to the complaint, Kennedy was 48 years old when he was died at NCRJ in the early evening of September 8, 2023, after being at the facility for about three hours. Kennedy was taken into custody that morning by the Parkersburg Police Department following a disturbance between Kennedy and his roommate. He was placed in NCRJ as a pre-trial detainee that afternoon.
Forbes (left) and diTrapano
| File photos
“The allegations in this complaint and the State Police investigation paint a tragic picture of ‘use of force’ gone horribly wrong,” attorney Jesse Forbes said. “When someone comes into a jail needing medical help at the very least their issues should be treated. Here, as alleged in the complaint, Nathan Kennedy’s medical needs weren’t just ignored for the three hours he was at the jail, he was allegedly brutalized by the guards to the point where his blood pressure dropped to shocking levels and he was pepper sprayed, tased and tied up to a chair until he died in front of the guards and medical staff.”
Kennedy’s death certificate says he died by homicide after “physical struggle with blunt force injuries and restraint procedures.” It says Kennedy was subjected to serious and excess force at the hands of NCRJ officers and had medical needs ignored as he was locked in multiple cages, handcuffed, sprayed with Oleoresin (pepper spray), left without proper decontamination in a confined space, removed from a cage and physically assaulted, forced to be improperly tasered while experiencing a health crisis, tied or cuffed by the wrist and ankles, secured in a restraint chair until he became unresponsive and died in the booking area.
A State Police investigation says that after Kennedy had been caged and pepper sprayed, he was later taken to a restroom area where no cameras were present and, when exiting the restroom, a scuffle ensued with the jail guards. The complaint also says the investigation showed there may be missing video footage taken by jail staff.
According to the complaint, Kennedy displayed evidence of a medical emergency upon his arrival at the NCRJ, and became debilitated because of his medical conditions. The complaint says Kennedy only could provide limited information but managed to inform corrections and medical staff working at the booking desk that he suffered from high blood pressure and had an active substance use disorder.
“The devastating death of Nathan Kennedy shows that there is still much to fix in the jail system,” said L. Dante diTrapano, who also is representing the estate. “We look forward to representing this family and their hope is that by bringing these issues to the light of day that things will change and that someone else’s loved one will be saved from such tragedy.”
In the complaint, the attorneys noted many similarities in Kennedy’s case and another they handled that went to trial last August. That case resulted in a $1 million settlement for the family.
Zachary Bailey was a 26-year-old pretrial detainee who also died in the booking area of NCRJ after only a few hours of incarceration. During the Bailey trial, former corrections officers provided testimony from a corrections officer who said Bailey was removed from a holding cell and hit, punched, positioned in an improper chokehold and piled upon by six officers for up to seven minutes cutting off the man’s ability to breathe and causing him to plead for the officers to let him go.
Former inmates also provided testimony in the Bailey case saying they witnessed the incident and saw officers taunting Bailey as he was unable to breathe and went limp.
“The tragic death of Zachary Bailey at North Central Regional Jail should have been a wakeup call for all corrections officials,” Forbes said. “Now we have a case where another pre-trial detainee who was only in the jail for a few hours was also experiencing a medical crisis and instead of providing help, as alleged here, Nathan Kennedy was brutally assaulted and killed in the exact same jail. To have allegations this disturbing at the same jail after the revelations of what happened to Zachary Bailey is simply unfathomable.”
DiTrapano agreed.
“The death of 26-year-old Zachary Bailey should have resulted in change,” he said. “But here, we have another tragic and devastating death in the exact same facility. No one should be treated this way, especially by the people they rely upon for every basic need. …
“When a person is placed in custody they don’t cease to have basic human rights. Devastatingly, the allegations in this case are that Nathan Kennedy wasn’t provided any such rights. To die restrained to a chair after the brutal assault described in these allegations is beyond tragic.
“Judges, juries and all of us need to know that when someone is sent to jail their Constitutional rights don’t get checked at the door. Unfortunately, the allegations in this case describe a situation where the rights weren’t just checked at the door they were trampled on for three hours as this victim was assaulted and died due to the force used by the officers.”
The complaint accuses Reed, Wells and other unnamed defendants of excessive force; Hutson of failure to train and supervise; the DCR defendants of deliberate indifference; the DCR of vicarious liability; and Wexford of medical professional negligence, negligent training and negligent supervision.
The estate seeks compensatory damages, pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
Kennedy’s estate is being represented by diTrapano, Amanda J. Davis and Charles F. Bellomy of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston, by Forbes and Jennifer N. Taylor of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston and by Anthony I. Werner of John & Werner Law Offices in Wheeling. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Richard D. Lindsay.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 25-C-242