3 Women With Disabilities Sue Allegheny County Jail Alleging Brutal Assault By Sergeant
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Three formerly incarcerated women with disabilities filed a lawsuit against the Allegheny County Jail claiming a sergeant there brutally assaulted them.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in federal court.
The suit claims this sergeant, who's worked at the jail since 2009, allegedly assaulted people with disabilities, using pepper spray, tasers and even a restraint chair.
April Walker, LaVonna Dorsey and Alexus Diggs say Sergeant John Raible brutally assaulted them over the years. The allegations stemmed back to December of 2018 and into 2019.
Also named in the lawsuit are Raible's supervisors, including Jail Warden Orlando Harper and four others for failure to train, supervise and reprimand staff at the jail, which the women say led to the assaults. The plaintiffs claim these supervisors were aware of Raible's violent history.
The lawsuit alleges Raible repeatedly pepper-sprayed Walker when she was pregnant and slammed her face into the concrete floor, putting her in the hospital.
Dorsey claims Raible pepper-sprayed her in the face and other parts of her body while she was undressed and put her in a restraint chair with overtightened straps that injured her shoulder. Diggs claims Raible shot several pepper pellets at her because he suspected she was using a pen to write grievances.
The lawsuit goes on to say that Raible has a history of assaulting people with psychiatric disabilities at the Allegheny County Jail.
KDKA reached out to Allegheny County for a comment on this lawsuit. The county said it doesn't comment on lawsuits or legal matters.
