Corning man sues county jail

A Corning man said in a federal lawsuit that the Tehama County Sheriff's Department violated his civil rights while he was an inmate at the jail.

The attorney for Robert Lawrence Heinke filed the suit on Sept. 25 in US District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento. He is asking for an unidisclosed amount for damages.

Heinke claims that a few days after he was booked into the Tehama County Jail on June 10, 2011, "he was injured," according to the court documents.

Tehama County Counsel Arthur Wylene said this week his office had not received the complaint, but said when it does he will evaluate the claim and respond to it accordingly.

Heinke was in jail charged with battery in a domestic violence case, to which he later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years sprobation, fined $410, and received a one year suspended prison sentence pending successful completion of a 52-week domestic violence program.

This wasn't the first time Heinke had been arrested and charged with violence.

In March 2008, Heinke was sentenced to three years in state prison after pleading guilty to corporal injury to a spouse after he choked his wife through her car window and then forced her into his own vehicle where he physically assaulted her.

In his lawsuit, Heinke is claiming he was assaulted by Tehama County sheriff's Correctional Officer Clayton Delaughder while in custody.

The lawsuit doesn't specify the date Heinke was reportedly assaulted, the location of the incident or any detail about what might have taken place.

"Some of the ensuing events are not clear, but Heinke remembers standing in front of the pod with bedding and belongings in hand and the guard saying 'go ahead.' He remembers telling Delaughder that he would not forget him. At some point he (Heinke) was injured and placed in a solitary cell," the lawsuit states.

The suit claims Heinke was "in and out of consciousness" but knows he received no medical attention while he was there for nine days.

Heinke also claims he was seen by "Laura Wood, P.A.," who was "genuinely surprised about the left heel being fractured and crushed as it was."

Although no "Laura Wood P.A." could be located in this area, there is a Laura Wood who once worked for the Tehama County District Attorney's Office and then as a public defender in the county.

In the lawsuit, Heinke claims he was Tased by correctional officers and carried out of his cell while incarcerated, although he has no recollection of the occurrence, according to the court documents.

Calls to Heinke's attorney, Ellen C. Dove, in Sacramento, were not returned.