DETROIT (WXYZ) — The family of a man beaten to death in the Wayne County jail in July has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the sheriff’s office.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks $10 million in damages.
Thomas Carr walked into the Wayne County jail to serve a sentence for a DUI conviction, but within 24 hours of his arrival, he was brutally attacked by his cellmate, Claude Lewis.
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“The county did not take the simple and reasonable measures to protect his safety, and for those reasons we’ve sued them,” said attorney Vince Colella.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Lewis came to the Wayne County jail for a domestic violence arrest. He had previously been convicted of assault, and according to the Wayne County Prosecutor, had 8 other convictions on his record including aggravated battery, burning or exploding property and felon in possession of a firearm.
Lewis was brought to the jail in July after his former girlfriend accused him of attacking her.
“He punched me in my face and ripped my shirt off,” she told a 911 operator. “I also have called on him (before). He’s shanked me before. I have a PPO order out on him. Everything.”
Lewis also had a history of severe mental illness, having been hospitalized for schizophrenia multiple times.
In addition to telling jail staff about his history, a LEIN Check warned sheriffs officials that Lewis “MAY HARM SELF OR OTHERS” and that he was “UNABLE TO ATTEND TO BASIC NEEDS OR UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR TREATMENT.”
It told officers that he’d been involuntary committed to a psych hospital in 2022.
“It is clear that the county knew or should have known that Claude Lewis was mentally ill,” Colella said, “He was dangerous, he had convictions that evidenced his violent propensities.”
The attack on Carr lasted for up to several hours, sources say.
It was made possible, according to the lawsuit, by severe understaffing inside the jail. Staffing went from five guards on the floor down to three, and the deputy assigned to Carr and Lewis’s ward was missing, failing to perform rounds for hours.
Sheriff Raphael Washington recently laid the blame for the brutal murder on that single deputy, rather than broader failures.
“If the officer did his job, he could have stopped the assault or possibly even rendered aide after the assault,” Washington said.
But the lawsuit says this was a failure of an entire system, not just one sheriff’s employee.
“It was a heinous death, it was a painful death and it’s one that no person—whether they were in a jail or otherwise—should ever have to suffer," Colella said.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.