The Herald-Dispatch
When he saw a woman using a phone to record video of Cabell County sheriff’s deputies arresting a person and perhaps using excessive force against him, Chief Deputy Chuck Zerkle came in hot.
With anger and assertiveness, he told the woman, “Get that sh*t out of here,” and forcibly moved her back and threatened her with arrest for obstruction. But she wasn’t physically obstructing the arrest and wasn’t close enough to do so. And at one point, Zerkle forcibly walked the woman, Emilea Burgh, to a spot nearer the arrest and then angrily told her to leave.
The problem is that Zerkle came in with old school methods — methods made obsolete a decade ago by technology and social media.
That was Tuesday, Aug. 5. The next day, Burgh filed a civil suit in federal court against Zerkle, Sheriff Doug Adams and the Cabell County Commission. The suit accuses Zerkle of two counts of excessive force, First Amendment retaliation, unlawful seizure, battery and assault. It seeks monetary relief (compensatory and punitive damages) and training for law enforcement officers in the excessive use of force.
