TACOMA — A federal trial begins Monday in which Jefferson County is being sued for allegedly neglecting the medical needs of a jail inmate.
Former inmate Zachery Barbee said the neglect that led to the amputation of his right hand’s little finger began in September 2004.
Along with Jefferson County, jail Superintendent Steve Richmond is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages.
“It’s pointing to him because he was in charge,” said Undersheriff Tim Perry.
“It’s a case of ‘the buck stops here.”‘
Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Brasfield was unavailable for comment, but will testify at the trial, which is expected to last about two weeks.
The case will be tried in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma by Judge Ronald B. Leighton.
Pattern of neglect?
Although the case has Barbee, 29, of Port Townsend as the sole plaintiff, his lawyer, Erik Heipt of Seattle-based Budge & Heipt, said he plans to establish a pattern of medical neglect that has gone on within the jail.
“We’re going to call a number of witnesses and establish that our client was denied necessary medical attention, and that he was not the only one,” said Heipt.
“There was a pattern of practice in the jail.”
