BATON ROUGE – A mother and child have filed a suit against East Baton Rouge Parish and members of its law enforcement alleging they failed to protect their decedent.
Adrienne Lewis, on behalf of the minor child Liyah Alexandria Johnson, filed a complaint on May 26 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana against the Parish of East Baton Rouge, Sheriff Sid J. Gautreaux III, et al., alleging wrongful death and other counts.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that the father of Liyah Johnson, Lamar Alexander Johnson, was arrested on May 26, 2015, after a traffic stop and was booked on an old arrest warrant at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. The suit states that while at the correctional facility, the decedent ingested synthetic marijuana and had a severe reaction. According to the suit, he was placed in solitary isolation and found hanging from his cell bars on May 30, 2015. The suit states he was taken to a local hospital and died a few days later.
The plaintiff alleges she suffered emotional pain and suffering; loss of support; loss of love, affection and companionship; and has incurred funeral and burial expenses. The plaintiff holds the defendants responsible because the defendants allegedly failed to protect decedent Lamar Alexander Johnson from harm and had a deliberate indifference to decedent's serious medical needs.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensation for all damages, attorneys’ fees and all costs and all other relief as appears just and proper. She is represented by David J. Utter of S. Wesley Woolf PC in Savannah, Georgia, and William R. Claiborne of The Claiborne Firm PC in Savannah, Georgia.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana Case number 3:16-cv-00352