A man who, as a teen, was restrained for hours in a restraint chair at the Clayton County Jail three years ago is suing former Sheriff Victor Hill.
Chryshon Hollins filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Atlanta on Wednesday, alleging Hill and several members of the jail’s staff committed assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress against him in April 2020.
A federal jury in October 2022 convicted Hill of violating the civil rights of Hollins, 20, and five others by strapping them to restraint chairs as punishment. The devices can only be legally used in cases where a detainee may cause harm to themselves or others.
The former sheriff is serving an 18-month sentence at a FCI Forrest City, a federal prison in Forrest City, Arkansas.
The lawsuit alleges that Hill ordered Hollins, who was 17 at the time of his arrest, strapped to a restraint chair after he was arrested for trashing his home because his mother told him to clean his room.
Current Clayton Sheriff Levon Allen, who was a deputy sheriff under Hill on the night Hollins was detained, was at the scene of the arrest and spoke to Hill about the incident, including sending him photos of the teen handcuffed in the back of a sheriff’s office squad car, the lawsuit said.
In a text exchange with Hill, the former sheriff asked Allen the age of the teen. When Allen said, “17,” Hill replied, “Chair,” according to the lawsuit.
Hollins spent four hours handcuffed in the chair, urinating on himself because he was not given a bathroom break, according to the suit.
“Chryshon remained in the restraint chair for four hours and fifteen minutes,” the lawsuit says. “When he was released from the chair, he fell to the floor.”
Hollins was then released from the device and slept for about an hour in a cell, the lawsuit said. But after Hill arrived at the jail and confronted him about disobeying his mother, Hollins was sent back to the chair for another five to six hours, according to the suit.
In addition to Hill, the lawsuit names jail staffers Kendrix Burns, Anthony Washington, Tabatha Givens and Jervarious Hargrove as defendants. Other counts in the lawsuit include the use of excessive force and cruel and unusual punishment.
Hollins is seeking unspecified punitive damages and a jury trial.
Hill also faces a civil lawsuit filed in June 2020 by Glenn Howell, another detainee whose restraint for hours in a chair in the jail led to Hill’s conviction.
“Hill not only knew and was deliberately indifferent to the actions of his subordinate staff, but he also personally participated in the use of excessive force, infliction of cruel and unusual punishment, the use of summary punishment, and the demonstration of deliberate indifference toward the rights of detainees,” the lawsuit says.
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