Inmate claims officials assaulted him at Muscogee County Jail

By Alva James-Johnson, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

May 05--The NAACP of Columbus is calling for the firing and arrest of a Muscogee County Sheriff's deputy for the alleged assault of a jail inmate two years ago.

The organization has three videos of the July 1, 2013, incident that the inmate, Christopher Russell, obtained through an open records request. The video appears to show two deputies grabbing and jumping on Russell in an elevator at the Muscogee County Jail. The incident ends with the two officers receiving backup from 11 additional officers.

At the time, Russell had been in jail for a domestic violence charge that had been dismissed two weeks earlier, according to Joseph Wiley, a local attorney and chair of the NAACP's legal redress committee.

The NAACP released the tape to the public at a "Moral Monday" rally Monday evening at the City Services Center, 3111 Citizens Way.

The two officers who allegedly assaulted Russell in the elevator are Deputy Anthony Ermi and Correctional Officer A. Merritt, Wiley said.

The incident occurred after Russell, a diabetic, had complained to deputies about his diabetic meals arriving too late, according to a July 6, 2013, jail incident report filed by Ermi.

In the report, Ermi said he went to dorm 4C to feed the inmates and saw that the kitchen had forgotten a special snack for Russell. He wrote that it happened at least once a week and Russell became "irritated every time like it is the officers' fault for not having his snack ready."

Ermi wrote that he told Russell to wait and Russell began cursing at him. He decided to take Russell to Dorm 4H for disruptive behavior, and a sergeant told him to place him in HD1 for a pre-deprivation hearing. He said Russell continued to be belligerent.

"He complied but as he was walking through door SC2 and toward door EL4 he kept taunting me and telling me, 'You are a f---- p---y. You can't do a motherf---- thing to me,'" Ermi wrote in the report.

"As we walked into the elevator he said, 'I still ain't received my g--d--- snack!' I had his snack in my hand and threw the snack toward him and said, 'Here is your snack.' The snack hit his arm/shoulder area. He turned on me and threw his belongings on the ground and got in my face for a second time. I felt threatened and reacted by using an open-hand strike to his face to gain control."

Ermi said that Russell wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug causing him to fall back to the wall of the elevator while still standing. He said officer Merritt came to assist him, hitting Russell in the face with a closed fist to gain control.

"I hit him in the face with a closed fist to gain control also," he added. "I don't recall how many times I hit inmate Russell or how many times Officer Merritt called for assistance on 4 south."

In the videos, officers are seen taking three other inmates on an elevator before Ermi and Merritt take Russell on a different elevator. Once they get in the elevator, Ermi throws snacks at Russell, then he and Merritt begin grabbing Russell.

In a Use-of-Force Report, dated July 12, 2013, the Sheriff's Office found Ermi's use of force "not justified," and he was given a three-day suspension to be served July 19-21, 2013. The report was signed by Sheriff John Darr and five other officials.

Merritt, according to Wiley, was never disciplined because he already was terminated from the jail for insurance fraud by the time the investigation was completed.

"What we're doing now is we're going to call for (Emri's) arrest," Wiley said. "Citizens every day get arrested for much less. ... That was an assault and I can tell you if you call the police and the facts are that you threw something in the person's face and then beat the person up, you're going to be arrested for assault."

Darr said he was familiar with the case but wouldn't comment on the video or any details until he reviewed the results of the investigation.

Wiley said Russell informed the NAACP of the 2013 incident about two weeks ago during a young adult committee meeting. He told the organization that "white lawyers had been jerking him around," and he was concerned about his statute of limitations expiring next month. In a written complaint to the NAACP, he wrote that he had filed a complaint with the Muscogee Sheriff's Department and hired Mark Shelnutt as his attorney after the incident occurred.

Shelnutt said Monday that he investigated the case and filed a federal lawsuit. According to court documents, Russell filed a lawsuit in January against the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office and Darr in his official and individual capacities.

Shelnutt withdrew as Russell's attorney this spring, and attorney Ronald Shane Smith, of Peachtree City, replaced him. But the lawsuit was dismissed March 25 when Russell "voluntarily" dismissed the claims.

"He decided to go in a different direction, and we wish him all the best," Shelnutt said. "It's an unfortunate situation."

The documentation he provided to the NAACP included a radiology report from 24/7 Radiology, which reported that Russell had a chipped bone in his shoulder and neck injuries. Wiley said Russell had done construction work before going to jail, and he's not able to continue with that line of work because of his injuries.

At Moral Monday, Russell said sometimes he can barely raise his arm and he still has headaches from the injuries. When he hears sirens, he still gets scared.

On the day of the incident, he says he kept knocking on the window because they disassembled the panic button and he couldn't get the officer's attention.

"The only way to get the officer's attention is to beat on the door or the window," Russell said. "And they wanted to put me in the hole for being disruptive because I was beating on the glass asking when they were going to bring me my snack."

He said Emri came to the door and told him, "if it wasn't for these snitches, I'd beat your f---g ass."

Russell said the next day he was released from prison and went to Darr to file a complaint. He said Darr told him that he would be able to get a copy of the video. So he filed an open records request and got access to the video.

NAACP President Tonza Thomas told the group at the rally that Darr, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and other officials have some explaining to do.

"We've been quiet for too long and change needs to come to Columbus," she said. "And Moral Monday is that vision to bring the voice to the voiceless. If you do not speak for yourself, bring it to the NAACP. Lay your problems at our door and we will do our best to fix the injustices in Muscogee County, Georgia."

Russell was incarcerated after a June 18, 2013, incident at Wild Bill's Party Shop, according to Wiley. He was there with a female friend who told store employees that he was attacking her. Wiley said Russell left the scene, and the store called the police.

When Russell found out there was a warrant out for his arrest, he reportedly returned to the store and denied the charges. The store reviewed a tape that revealed the charges were false, according to Wiley. On Monday, he provided Muscogee County court documents showing the charges were dismissed June 21, 2013. Yet, a probation hold was placed on Russell and he remained in jail two weeks.

Wiley said Russell is a "serious diabetic," which he told authorities at the jail when he arrived. Russell said his meals always arrived about one and a half hours late, and he complained on several occasions.

-- Stephanie Pedersen contributed to this report.

Alva James-Johnson, 706-571-8521. Reach her on Facebook at AlvaJamesJohnsonLedger.

___

Visit the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.) at www.ledger-enquirer.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.