Deputies Accused of Vile Behavior

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - A jail inmate claims Franklin County sheriff's deputies fed him a bologna sandwich after forcing another inmate, who has HIV and hepatitis C, to put his penis on the sandwich, and photographed it. The inmate, who is black, says the deputies, who are white, taunted him and showed him the photo after he ate the sandwich.

Plaintiff Joseph Copeland, who is black, sued jailers Joseph Cantwell and Philip Barnett and Sheriff Jim Karnes, all of whom are white. Copeland claims that Cantwell forced inmate Todd Triplett, who is black, to "place his penis on the bologna sandwich." When Triplett refused, Cantwell told him, "Put your dick on the sandwich or I'll put you in the hole," according to the complaint in Franklin County Court. "Inmate Triplett, out of fear complied and at that time a photograph was taken of the act with a cell phone."

Copeland says Copeland and Barnett then handed him the sandwich, and after he ate it, "Copeland and Barnett showed the picture of Triplett's penis on the sandwich to plaintiff Copeland and asked, 'How does Triplett's dick taste?'" Then they laughed at him and humiliated him, he says.

Triplett sued the same defendants in May, making the same allegations. Copeland claims that the "defendants, all white males, targeted plaintiff because of his race and being an African American and due to his mental disability and handicap."

He demands punitive damages for assault and civil rights violations. He is represented by Javier Armengau.

Here is Courthouse News' May 12 story on Triplett's lawsuit.

Deputies Accused of Playing Cruel Trick

(CN) - A jail inmate claims two Franklin County Sheriff's deputies forced him to place his penis on an open bologna sandwich so the deputies could photograph it, and that the two then fed the sandwich to another inmate, and then taunted the man with the photo.

Todd Triplett, who is black, sued the county, Sheriff Jim Karnes, and Deputy Joseph Cantwell, who allegedly ordered him to put his penis on the sandwich and photographed it with his cell phone, and Deputy Phillip Barnett, who allegedly held the sandwich for the photograph.

Triplett demands damages for civil rights violations and assault and battery. He is represented in Franklin County Court by Byron Potts.

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