Inmate alleges COVID-19 exposure
Sues Lake County Jail, claiming he contracted virus while in custody
A jail inmate has sued the Lake County Sheriff ’s Office, alleging he was exposed to COVID-19 while in custody.
Jacarus Coleman, 24, of Eustis, arrested April 7 on a charge of domestic battery, filed the civil claim last month without legal counsel.
The handwritten lawsuit alleges he contracted the virus and suffered headaches, fever and other COVID19 symptoms as well as mental anguish.
It was not immediately clear from the filing whether Coleman has recovered.
He accused jail staff of failing to keep the premises free of hazardous conditions and refusing to give him an N-95 mask, a covering approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and considered effective because of its tight fit and efficiency in filtering airborne particles.
Coleman is seeking unspecified damages in excess of $25,000 — the statutory minimum for a civil claim in circuit court.
He also wants the Sheriff ’s Office to pay his medical bills. The office runs the jail.
Coleman was jailed after a former girlfriend alleged he hit her and threw her to the ground. He accused her of taking his money.
She denied taking his money. He denied the assault.
He has pleaded not guilty to the third-degree felony.
According to a sheriff ’s report, Coleman said he is a rapper and was about to sign a $2 million recording contract and the woman, mother to his three children, ages 3, 2 and 1, wanted to ruin his career. Coleman, the woman and three kids had been sharing a home on Bates Avenue in Eustis.
He was not given bond due to a previous battery conviction in 2018.
Coleman also has filed a second lawsuit, alleging three deputies used “unreasonable force” with him while quelling a jail disturbance.
The lawsuit does not specify when the incident occurred, but Coleman was charged with battery on a detention deputy after a scrum Aug. 1. According to a sheriff ’s report, Coleman fought relocation to another cell, saying, “If I’m going to ‘the box,’ I’ll make it worth my time.”
Coleman alleged that one deputy slammed him to the ground and another choked him.
Lawyers for the Sheriff ’s Office have not yet filed a reply to either lawsuit.
When the virus was raging, justice-reform advocates urged prisons and jails release some inmates to make facilities safer.
Two Lake County Jail inmates died of COVID during the
pandemic, said Lt. John Herrell, sheriff ’s spokesman.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, Orange County corrections reported 976 COVID cases among jail inmates, four of whom died. The county reported 455 cases among jail staff and three correctional officers died of COVID.
The jail has no active inmate cases, said Tracy Zampaglione, spokesperson for Orange County corrections.
As the delta variant surged here in late summer, Mayor Jerry Demings, who served a decade as sheriff, said jail cases shouldn’t be a surprise.
“Individuals who are booked into our jail come from the community, in which all of us live, and so we know that it was just a matter of time before we had someone that was in our care and custody that, one, would test positive and, two, would likely die of the disease,” the mayor said.