Democratic Sheriff Candidate Buckley Condemns Chapman’s Abuse of Inmates, Lack of Transparency

PURCELLVILLE, VA - Sheriff Mike Chapman's negligence and misfeasance has yet again caused an unrevealed amount of taxpayers' money to be spent to settle a preventable lawsuit involving abuse of a County Jail inmate, said Craig Buckley, Democratic Nominee for Loudoun County Sheriff.

The Sheriff's Office settled a lawsuit last week for an undisclosed amount of taxpayer money in which a Loudoun County Jail inmate sought $7 million, claiming he was pepper sprayed by a deputy, seeking to restrain the inmate, and then hosed down with scalding water, which caused skin burns requiring medical

treatment.

"Sheriff Chapman and his office have committed vet another unconscionable and unconstitutional injustice and Loudoun County residents demand answers," said Buckley. "The continued lack of transparency involving legal settlements made by the Sheriff's Office cannot continue. Loudoun County residents deserve to know, in detail, the failures that led to this lawsuit, the specific steps being taken to prevent these failures from occurring in the future, as well as how much this has cost taxpayers.

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Buckley continued, "Public safety does not exist without public trust and this is vet another example of why I have called for the creation of Citizen Advisory Councils, which are an integral part of law enforcement agencies establishing and maintaining trust with communities.

This is another in a long list of settlements that Loudoun County taxpayers have been forced to pay for due to Chapman's utter failure to properlv fulfill his Constitutional duties. Chapman has been sued repeatedly, for a total of $65,000,000, for violating prisoners' civil rights.

Because most of these cases have ended in sealed settlements, it is unknown how many millions of dollars Chapman has cost taxpayers in government resources and outside legal fees.

It is known that in addition to the $7 million claim made in this most recent case, Loudoun County Public School teacher Kimberly Winters was awarded S5 million earlier this year and previously Deputy John Gregory brought a $7.2 million lawsuit against Chapman.