Former inmate who describes being stabbed in Sumter County jail is suing sheriff's office for negligence (2024)

A former inmate at the Sumter County jail is suing the local sheriff’s office for gross negligence, alleging the agency’s lack of supervision enabled another inmate to violently attack him with a makeshift weapon.

Roger Gooden, 43, filed a civil lawsuit against the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office in state court on Aug. 9. He is seeking a jury trial and monetary compensation in what he described as a 2023 assault at the Sumter-Lee Regional Detention Center, which is run by the sheriff’s office.

The office of Sheriff Anthony Dennis declined to comment on Aug. 12. Spokesman Mark Bordeaux said the agency had not yet received legal notice of Gooden’s court action.

Gooden’s written complaint states that he was assigned as a “trustee,” an inmate entrusted to do work inside the jail and move more freely around, when detention officers left his pod unattended soon after a shift change on Nov. 29.

While no officers were around, another inmate he identified as James Andrew Bell exited his cell — which had been left unlocked — and assaulted Gooden with a “shank,” a makeshift knife, according to the complaint.

“Bell punched and kicked plaintiff all over his head and body,” the document states. “Bell’s violent attack on Plaintiff continued for five minutes and culminated in Bell’s final swing, when Bell stabbed Plaintiff’s eye socket with the shank."

Before Bell attacked Gooden, Gooden was moving freely around the pod, doing his tasks as a trustee, said Gooden’s lead attorney, Ally Benevento of Strom Law Firm. These tasks, she said, included charging a tablet computer that Gooden had handed Bell to use.

Gooden was depending on jail officers to keep him “safe from that type of attack while he’s out performing his duties,” Benevento said in an interview.

His lawsuit also alleges that he waited over an hour for an ambulance despite his significant loss of blood and serious injuries. During the four days he was waiting for eye surgery at the Sumter County jail, according to his complaint, the facility denied him access to prescription pain medication.

Gooden has lost the eye that was stabbed, Benevento said.

In January, he was released from the county jail on a $75,000 surety bond, court records show. He was detained in January 2022 on multiple charges out of Sumter County, including attempted murder and possessing a weapon during a violent crime. His prosecution is ongoing.