Lawsuit: Man beaten by jail deputies for burping

By Mike Gangloff

A Virginia Tech student jailed on a drunken driving charge was beaten by Roanoke sheriff's deputies who were annoyed by his burping, according to a federal lawsuit.

Thomas Scott Vandegrift, 24, said in the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Roanoke that his burps, caused by acid reflux, led deputies in the Roanoke jail to twist his arms behind his back while he was handcuffed, force him to his knees and beat him.

The attack was part of "an institutionalized practice" of rough treatment by deputies and was covered up by Sheriff Octavia Johnson, the lawsuit says. Vandegrift's attorney, John Fishwick of Roanoke, said in a statement the lawsuit "raises important issues," but declined to elaborate. Fishwick last year filed another federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoner DaVon Bell, who said Roanoke deputies broke his elbow.

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Patricia Johnson said Monday there would be no comment on Vandegrift's lawsuit.

Vandegrift's suit says officers denied him medical care, but that after his release, he was treated at a hospital for wrist and arm strains and abrasions to his ear and side.

Bell and Vandegrift's lawsuits name the same deputy, Brandon Young, as among the officers who assaulted them. The suits both seek $6 million from each defendant, including the city, the sheriff's office, the sheriff, Young and additional deputies whose identities weren't known, Fishwick said. Both lawsuits allege excessive force, conspiracy to violate civil rights and assault and battery.

In Bell's case, Young and Johnson have filed responses denying they violated his rights. In December, a judge dismissed the sheriff's office as a defendant, but said the case could proceed against Johnson, Young and other officers. A trial date is set for May.

Vandegrift's drunken driving charge ended in 2008 in Roanoke General District Court with a no-contest plea, a $750 fine, a suspended six-month jail sentence and a year of driving restrictions. Vandegrift graduated from Tech with a biology degree last fall and lives in Roanoke, Fishwick said.