SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — A federal lawsuit has been filed against a Spokane County Sheriff's Office deputy accused of beating a man to a point where he had to be hospitalized for days after.
This is a story that KREM 2 News has been following since last Fall. Sixty-two-year-old Kevin Hinton had pulled over at Terrace View Park in Spokane Valley to take a nap when he was confronted by Sergeant Clay Hilton.
When Hinton wouldn't hand over his ID, the situation escalated, and his attorney said Hilton beat him to the point where he suffered eight broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion.
Spokane Police later investigated the incident and found there was probable cause to charge the sergeant with assault.
Since then, there's been no word from prosecutors on the next steps.
But on Thursday, Hinton filed a federal lawsuit against several parties, including Hilton, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office, the City of Spokane Valley and the American Medical Response Ambulance Service.
In the lawsuit, Hinton accuses them of several things, including excessive force, deliberate indifference and negligence.
The lawsuit claims that Hilton "lacked reasonable suspicion" to seize Hinton, and Hinton was not committing a crime or civil infraction when he was seized. The lawsuit also claims that Hilton lacked probable cause to arrest Hinton.
The claim further states in part that the sheriff's office "rubber-stamped their approval of an officer's use of force despite clear evidence to the contrary."
KREM 2 spoke with Hinton's attorney in February, where he told KREM 2 this incident left his client "shaken to the core," and that it should have never happened.