Trenton man who alleged beating says Pennsylvania COs threatened witness
TRENTON » A city man who says he was beaten by Pennsylvania corrections officers says jail officials have come down hard on another inmate who backed up his story of prisoner abuse, sending in the goons to shake him up and get him to recant helpful testimony.
An attorney for Trenton giant James Covington, affectionately known as 6-8 because of his towering height, said in recently filed court papers jail officials retaliated against inmate Sean Coleman.
Coleman stepped forward supporting Covington’s claim that he was beaten by COs at the Doylestown detention center, where he was being held for failing to pay probation fines.
In a sworn affidavit obtained by The Trentonian, Coleman says that CO Andrew Amoroso used excessive force in subduing Covington, who jail officials contend became unruly when a nurse ordered him to swallow his medications.
Covington is physically and mentally challenged. Coleman claims the CO’s alleged assault on Covington was so severe that he was “out cold” for several minutes.
“Inmate Covington and Officer Amoroso exchanged words,” Coleman wrote. “Inmate Covington touched Officer Amoroso lightly on the chest. Officer Amoroso parried Covington’s arm to the left, then punched Covington with his right fist to the face, then grabbed him and slammed him to the ground.”
Pennsylvania jail officials have refused to answer questions about Covington’s brutality allegations.
Lawyer Patrick Whalen, who represents Covington in a federal lawsuit, asked a judge to intervene to ensure jail officials “take steps to immediately protect and stop threatening” Coleman and other Bucks County inmates who may want to testify on behalf of Covington.
He referred to Bucks County officials’ conduct in trying to dissuade Coleman from testifying as “wholesale witness tampering.”
Covington contends he was bullied and beaten up by Amoroso, who allegedly slammed him to the ground so hard that Covington broke his collar bone.
Family members and Covington’s attorney alleged after being called the N-word, beaten down and blacking out in the jail that Covington was denied medical treatment.
His broken collar bone required immediate surgery, which his lawyer said was “unconstitutionally” denied for reasons jail officials wouldn’t explain.
Whalen also contends his client was slapped with trumped-up charges once he complained about his mistreatment at the jail.
An investigator waited weeks before filing aggravated assault charges against Covington, who was accused of cursing out and accosting Amoroso.
In his court papers, Whalen weaved a portrait of outof-control jail officials employing corrupt tactics to get off the hook for prisoner brutality.
He contends jail officials intimidated Coleman from speaking out against the abuse by putting him in the “hole,” or solitary confinement, for 23 hours a day.
According to court papers, jail officials enlisted other inmates to approach Coleman and threaten him if he continued cooperating with Covington’s camp, leaving the vulnerable inmate fearing for his life.
“Sean Coleman has been placed in isolation and lost most of his privileges, even though no charges have been filed against him,” Whalen wrote. “His only offense appears to be his insistence on telling the truth and his unwillingness to succumb to witness intimidation and interference engaged in by government officials.”
Coleman met with Whalen and explained a CO overheard him tell somebody at the jail that he planned to “tell the truth” about what happened to Covington. Afterward, he claimed the CO threatened him.
Coleman’s girlfriend told The Trentonian in a short phone interview he is “very nervous and uncomfortable” at the jail.
Days later, inmates allegedly given marching orders by corrupt COs tried to coerce Coleman.
On Nov. 4, he was placed in solitary confinement to convince him to change his mind about helping Covington, according to the court papers.
“I feel I have been threatened by inmates acting on behalf of Officer Amoroso,” Coleman wrote. “I have lost my visits and commissary.”
While the situation has gone downhill for Coleman, things have gotten better for Covington who has been released from jail.
Whalen said his client got out of jail last week. Weirdly, while he was changing out of his prison garb, one of the supervising corrections officers ordered that Covington be filmed while he was undressing.
Whalen couldn’t understand why that was done and called it a breach of protocol further meant to embarrass his client.
“He’s really upset about his privacy rights being violated,” Whalen said.
Now that he’s out of jail, Covington is expected to go under the knife to repair his busted-up collarbone.