CLEVELAND - Chantelle Glass, the woman seen in a controversial video inside the Cuyahoga County Jail, is now suing
the county and the corrections officers involved in what her attorneys are calling a “brutal, torturous” attack.
Glass filed the civil-rights complaint Tuesday against officers Idris-Farid Clark and Robert Marsh for the July 16, 2018, incident.
The suit alleges excessive force, First Amendment retaliation, assault, battery, failure to train and supervise employees and related state-law claims including civil liability.
The video was released in late May. It shows two corrections officers punching and using pepper spray on Glass while she was tied up in a restraint chair.
During the press conference, Glass offered the following statement:
“I just thank God and I’m able that I’m able to stand in front of you guys and tell my story. To stand up for everyone who’s been abused by the Cuyahoga County correctional officers. All I want is justice and peace. I do think about July 16, 2018, every day. What if I would’ve stopped breathing in that restraint chair? Why did they do this to me? I sat in that chair that day and prayed over and over that I wouldn’t die. I have three beautiful children to live for, and I just thank God that I’m alive and able to seek justice against these correction officers.”
The complaint claims that Cuyahoga County tolerated and encouraged a culture of sadistic violence by corrections officers against incarcerated citizens and details numerous instances of abuse against other victims. The complaint further asserts that the county failed to adequately train and supervise its corrections employees.