Ex-Georgia sheriff faces new lawsuit over restraint chair use

ATLANTA — Another of the men involved in the restraint chair case that landed former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill in a federal prison has filed a civil lawsuit against the ex-lawman.

Raheem Peterkin is seeking a jury trail and punitive damages for injuries he allegedly sustained in 2019, after Hill illegally ordered him to be placed in a restraint chair in the Clayton County jail. The Clayton Sheriff’s Office is not named in the suit.

Restraint chairs can only legally be used as a way to keep inmates from harming themselves or others. Hill was convicted by a federal jury in October 2022 of strapping six detainees in the chair for four hours and longer as a form of punishment.

Caren Morrison, a Georgia State University associate law professor, previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Hill’s criminal conviction sharply raises the chances of detainees winning their civil lawsuits.

Hill has been named as a plaintiff in nearly 30 lawsuits since 2020.

Peterkin had been arrested at his home after a standoff with police, who had been called to the residence because Peterkin was said to have been seen pointing a gun at two men in a car.

But Peterkin said his detainment after arriving at the jail did not meet the conditions set by the law and the Clayton Sheriff Office standards under which restraint chairs could be used.

“At no point between Peterkin’s arrest and confinement in the restraint chair did Peterkin exhibit any behavior that could reasonably be considered violent, aggressive, or threatening towards himself, others, or property,” the lawsuit says.

Hill’s attorneys could not be immediately reached for comment.

Hill was convicted of violating Peterkin’s civil rights, along with those of five other detainees strapped into the chair. He was sentenced in March 2023 to 18 months in prison at FCI Forrest City in Forrest City, Arkansas. Hill was released to community confinement in March. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld Hill’s conviction in April.

In addition to Peterkin, Glenn Howell and Chryshon Hollins — two other of the six men named in Hill’s federal indictment — have filed lawsuits against the former sheriff.

Howell was a Butts County landscaper who was restrained in the restraint chair after arguing with the former sheriff over work Howell did for a Clayton Sheriff’s Office deputy. Hollins was placed in the device twice after the then 17-year-old trashed his own home after an argument with his mother.

In his lawsuit, which was filed Friday, Peterkin alleges that Hill used unlawful force in the use of the restraint chair and that “Hill willfully disregarded common sense and his own policy.”

He also alleged in the litigation that while waiting in the jail’s intake center after his arrest, Hill entered the facility and Peterkin and other detainees were told to face the wall. Peterkin alleged that Hill told him he should have been executed instead of arrested.

Peterkin said in the suit that he allegedly sustained significant lacerations to his wrists after his hands were cuffed behind his back while in the chair. He added that both are scarred because of the positioning.

Peterkin also is suing Alpharetta-based CorrectHealth, alleging that the healthcare provider did not protect him while he was restrained. He said that he was strapped in the chair for more than four hours and urinated on himself because he was not allowed to use the restroom.

CorrectHealth did not immediately return calls seeking comment.