Mentally Ill Detainee Allegedly “Stomped” In the Head By South Carolina Jailer
by Anthony W. Accurso
A federal civil rights suit filed on March 12, 2024, accused a guard at South Carolina’s Marlboro County Detention Center of brutalizing a homeless mentally ill detainee—even stomping on his head. “Stories like this, where men and women are beaten, brutalized, dehumanized and even killed in jails across America, often by the officers pledged to guard and protect them, are all too common,” said Bakari Sellers, one of the attorneys representing Eldred Maliek Joe.
After his arrest on May 3, 2023, the 29-year-old received no treatment at the jail for his bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, the complaint recalled. Bennettsville Police picked him up after receiving notice of “a suspicious male attempting to pull up bushes from various business,” the suit continued. Joe attempted to “flee multiple times” before he was charged with disorderly conduct and brought to the jail. During booking, he was “uncooperative,” guards said, so they placed him on his stomach while inventorying his property. He was then put in a holding cell.
Sometime after cops left, guard Morgan Eldridge Ridges entered Joe’s cell. He “first used his right foot to pin [Joe’s] head to the floor” and then “lift[ed] his left foot off the floor”—so that he was “standing on [Joe’s] head,” the complaint alleged. Ridges also “stomped and struck [Joe] in the head with his right foot, causing his head to strike the floor.” The guard tried and failed to put Joe in a spit mask, punching him in the head with a closed fist for not cooperating. Joe was then left handcuffed in the cell for the next 12 hours.
The next day, when Bennettsville police returned to transport Joe to a mental health evaluation, he was found rocking in the cell and yelling, “Lord help me!” According to the complaint, the cops “noticed the floor tiles of the cell had been pulled up, broken, and scattered”—allegedly when Ridges assaulted the detainee.
“Plaintiff’s wrist wounds required antibiotic treatment and surgical intervention,” the complaint continued. Joe remained hospitalized almost two weeks, undergoing “complex closure of his traumatic wrist wounds, to include skin, subcutaneous tissue, and muscle fascia.” He was then transported to Florida’s Lake County, where he is from.
The disorderly conduct charge has since been dropped. Following a state Law Enforcement Division investigation, Ridges, now 55, was fired and charged with misconduct in office, third-degree assault and battery. However, no video of the incident has been released, despite calls from Joe’s legal team: attorneys Sellers, Mario Pacella, Amy Willbanks, Alexandra Benevento and Matthew Robins of Strom Law Firm in Columbia.
“Eldred Joe’s only crime was that he was sick,” Sellers said. “Ridges didn’t beat him because he was violent or some kind of threat. He did it because he could and because he believed no one would care.” See: Joe v. Marlboro Cty. Sheriff’s Off., USDC (D.S.C.), Case No. 0:24-cv-01206.
Additional sources: Atlanta Black Star, WPDE
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