A former Clark County Jail inmate has sued the county in federal court for failing to provide adequate accommodations for his hearing disability.
Charles Brian Bearden, 33, of Vancouver seeks $850,000 in damages from the county’s discrimination against him and “conscious and intentional lack of accommodation for his disability,” according to the lawsuit.
“Even in jail, people have the right to be treated fairly, and forcing a deaf person to suffer what amounts solitary confinement … and to prevent them from understanding what is happening around them — that is an abuse of power,” his attorney, Darrell Cochran, said in a statement Wednesday.
Bearden, who goes by his middle name, Brian, also is president of a Vancouver-based deaf advocacy organization.
Bearden turned himself in last September on an arrest warrant accusing him of pushing his girlfriend onto the ground during an argument.
During his five-day stay at the jail, Bearden claims jailers failed to provide him with recharged batteries for his implanted electronic hearing device in a timely manner, despite his bringing a battery recharger and extra batteries to the jail. He also alleges the jail failed to provide him with an American Sign Language interpreter or other accommodations. As a result, he was unable to immediately hear the charge against him, make a phone call after his arrest, arrange for bond to be posted or counsel to be hired, understand announcements and commands over the jail loudspeaker, communicate with visitors, or participate in jail activities, according to the lawsuit.
Bearden “had to resort to bartering his meals with other inmates to receive the jail’s notices” and to communicate with his father over the phone, the lawsuit states. He also was denied an ASL interpreter at his court appearance in Clark County District Court on a charge of fourth-degree assault domestic violence, the suit states.
“The judge told (Bearden) he would have to wait until the next day to be arraigned and have bail set, again, with no guarantee of an interpreter’s availability,” the lawsuit says. Bearden chose to go forward with the arraignment hearing and attempted to read lips, according to the lawsuit.
Bearden’s attorneys, Cochran and Kristian Roggendorf, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. The lawsuit seeks $500,000 for discrimination against Bearden and $350,000 for deprivation of his civil rights, Roggendorf said.
Bernard Veljacic, deputy prosecutor on civil cases involving Clark County government, and County Administrator Mark McCauley said on Wednesday that they have not yet received copies of the lawsuit and were not prepared to comment on it.
Bearden pleaded guilty March 4 to fourth-degree assault and was sentenced to the five days he’d already served in jail and ordered to pay nearly $400 in court fines and fees.
Bearden heads the deaf advocacy organization DeafVibe, which was registered in 2012 with the Secretary of State’s Office.
