Former NL MVP Lenny Dykstra’s fall from grace has included stints in the stoney lonesome for auto theft, bankruptcy fraud and indecent exposure. None of that, however, excuses the allegedly violent treatment suffered by the former Mets/Phillies sparkplug-turned-scamster at the Los Angeles County Central Jail in April of 2012, at which time Dykstra claims he was assaulted by 6 deputies and had his head slammed against a wall. From the LA Times’ Cindy Chang :
An earlier Sheriff’s Department investigation acknowledged that deputies struck Dykstra but determined they acted appropriately. Sheriff’s officials have said that Dykstra struck a medical technician and a nurse during the incident.
Dykstra’s complaint, filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, lists last names, but no first names, for the captain, nine deputies and two sergeants. Other defendants include then-undersheriff Paul Tanaka and department spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Ten nurses and doctors are also named as defendants in the suit. They are accused of not treating or documenting Dykstra’s injuries.
The lawsuit characterizes the incident as part of a pervasive pattern of violence against inmates. In recent months, 21 sheriff’s deputies have been charged with brutalizing inmates and other crimes. All have pleaded not guilty.
“In order to create their atmosphere of fear and brutality, the sheriffs often targeted those who were least likely to fight back … depending all along for the quiet complicity of the medical staff in not documenting, not diagnosing, and not treating injuries from those beatings,” said Dykstra’s complaint.