A Grass Valley man is filing a lawsuit, claiming officers broke his leg and left him overnight at the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility without adequate treatment. Police say 41-year-old Christopher Howie was very intoxicated when officers arrested him, in January of this year. The department says he became violent and uncooperative and had to be taken to the floor and restrained inside the facility. But Howie’s Penn Valley attorney, Patrick Dwyer, tells KNCO that Howie was only mildly intoxicated. He says it was very clear, from video footage inside the facility, that Howie did nothing to warrant having his head slammed into a padded wall several times before being taken down. Howie says he broke his leg, as a Nevada County Sheriff’s deputy applied all his weight on him, as he went down. Dwyer says Howie also wants major changes to medical protocol…

click to listen to Patrick Dwyer

Howie says he couldn’t walk and had to call a taxi to get to the hospital. Dwyer says Howie is not only seeking about a-million-and-a-half dollars for his injuries, but real reform of jail procedures and practices. But he says he’s not aware of any specific pattern of excessive force in the county’s jail….

click to listen to Patrick Dwyer

Among those named in the lawsuit, which has been filed in federal court in Sacramento, are Nevada County, Sheriff Keith Royal, two deputies, and the police officer who arrested Howie, as well as Correctional Medical Group. Dwyer was also co-counsel regarding an excessive force lawsuit filed against Placer County jail officers that was later settled out of court.