Settlement in videotaped beating of mentally ill Knox inmate in jeopardy

June 21--KNOXVILLE -- Court documents filed Monday reveal a minimum $200,000 price tag to taxpayers for Knox County correctional staff's videotaped beating of a restrained and mentally ill inmate, but the settlement deal appears to be unraveling.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court in a civil-rights lawsuit lodged on behalf of former inmate Louis Flack Jr. show the Knox County Law Department agreed to settle the case for $200,000 to Flack and an undetermined amount in fees and costs for his attorney, Lance Baker.

Notice of a settlement was filed in March. However, Law Director Richard "Bud" Armstrong declined to release to the public the amount of money to be paid to Flack or his attorney until motions on an earlier issue, which he did not specify, were resolved.

At the time of Armstrong's statement to the News Sentinel, the only issue that appeared to be left on the table was a motion filed in February -- roughly six weeks before the settlement was reached -- in which a private attorney hired at taxpayer expense for all but one of the accused Knox County Sheriff's Office personnel sought sanctions against Baker over the release of additional video in the case to the media.

Baker now says in a motion filed Monday the settlement should have ended any talk of sanctions. He is accusing Deputy Law Director David Wigler and Armstrong of trickery, promising a deal they did not intend to keep. Baker is asking U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley to either enforce what he says was the settlement approved in March or set the case for trial. Shirley has scheduled a July 14 hearing.

Baker last year filed a $5 million lawsuit against Knox County and five KCSO staffers in the November 2014 videotaped beating of Flack at the Roger D. Wilson Detention Facility on Maloneyville Road.

Video -- both a short clip made public by KCSO as news of the beating was about to break in the months following the incident and a longer version released by Baker earlier this year -- showed Flack was in the throes of a psychotic break when the staffers stormed his cell. He was forced to the floor face down and was fully restrained when jailer Nicholas Breeden repeatedly punched Flack and jailer Christopher Fustos repeatedly kneed him, the video showed. Breeden faces criminal charges. Fustos does not and instead was suspended two days. He has since filed his own lawsuit against the county.

Cpl. David Sparkes, who ordered the intrusion into Flack's cell, narrated the video, watched the beating and later is shown grabbing Flack by his hair and pulling his head upward as a nurse treated Flack, was suspended for five days. Officer Jesse Rudd, who held Flack down, resigned before the video was made public. Officer Spencer Solomon, who also held Flack down, was not punished.

Because the entire incident was captured on video, the staffers did not follow KCSO's own policy on handling mentally ill inmates and even KCSO alleged Breeden had committed a crime, the county offered a quick settlement. The terms of that offer have never been disclosed as Baker rejected it. Armstrong's office then hired attorney John Owings to represented all but Breeden in the case, a move that typically puts legal distance between the county and the officers so the county can argue KCSO is blameless because the officers went rogue. Breeden hired attorney Joshua Hedrick, who also represents him in the pending criminal case.

According to documents filed Monday in connection with Baker's motion, Wigler, Owings, Hedrick and Baker agreed during a mediation hearing before Shirley in March to settle the case. Under the terms of that deal, Flack would get $200,000, and the county would pay Baker for his work in the case. The county offered Baker $35,000, which he declined. He wanted $100,000, though he later said he would accept $80,000. So, according to settlement documents, the parties agreed to attempt to negotiate Baker's legal tab and, should no deal be struck, allow Shirley to decide.

But then Baker saw the News Sentinel story in which Armstrong cited a pending legal issue, which Baker surmised involved Owings' motion for sanctions. He said in his motion he repeatedly asked Wigler and Armstrong to clarify, but they refused. Later, though, in an email, Wigler made mention of the sanctions motion.

Baker said in his motion he now believes the county intends to try to undercut the attorney's fees he is due by pressing for financial sanctions. Such a move, Baker argues, violates the settlement, which made no mention of sanctions.

"It now appears that Wigler and Owings seek to manipulate a situation whereby Baker's reasonable attorney's fee, whatever that might be, is offset by an award of sanctions against Plaintiff or Baker, a result clearly not intended by Plaintiff," Baker wrote.

The county has not yet responded. Emails filed by Baker with his motion show Wigler accuses Baker of violating the terms of the settlement by refusing to sign off on some of the documents involved. Wigler threatened to file a motion alleging as much but later said in another email he had reconsidered his position. He did not explain why.

If the disagreement is not ironed out, the potential tab for taxpayers will continue to climb. Breeden, meanwhile, faces an Aug. 15 trial on a charge of official oppression.

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