LOS ANGELES - An April 13 federal lawsuit accuses Orange County and the Orange County Sheriff's Department of excessive force, negligence and other civil rights violations.
The complaint was filed in the Central California District Court by plaintiff David Miner, a Stanton native who was incarcerated at Theo Lacy Jail in 2019.
Miner was initially placed in protective custody because he was classified as a 290, an inmate whose crimes involve sexual assault and acts against public decency and good morals.
Once moved out of protective custody, Miner says a violent attack was carried out on him by his cell mate and accuses the guards nearby of intentionally not intervening.
The defendants are further accused of failing to reasonably predict that the assailant, who was incarcerated on a murder charge and had a violent history within the jail, would attack his cell mate.
The plaintiff sustained multiple rib fractures, a maxillary fracture, broken nose, cracked skull and collapsed lung.
The defendants are charged with Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment violations, civil rights violations and negligence.
Miner is represented by Lahmani law APC of Santa Ana.