An ex-convict who now lives in Oklahoma is the latest to sue Nebraska over a 2015 riot at the Tecumseh prison that left two inmates dead.
Timothy Schrader's attorney, Joy Shiffermiller, says he risked his own safety saving a third inmate from being beaten to death May 10, 2015, at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution.
She said Schrader, a 44-year-old who was released in July, and other protective-custody inmates were left to fend for themselves when other inmates set off on a violent, destructive riot.
Two and a half years later, no charges have been filed in the deaths of Shon Collins and Donald Peacock, who were found beaten to death when prison staff regained control the next morning.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Lancaster County District Court, Shiffermiller said Schrader stopped three inmates from killing a third inmate, "who was almost beaten to death."
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She said the inmate, who was in the same pod as Schrader, had his eyeball forcibly popped out and was bleeding from gouges on his cheeks. Schrader picked him up and carried him outside the housing unit, then got shirts and other fabric to stop the bleeding, and ice from a cooler in an attempt to save his life.
Shiffermiller said other inmates threatened Schrader for tending to the other man's injuries, and he feared he would be beaten or killed. When night fell, Schrader carried the injured man to his cell and shut the door.
"As a result of the negligence of the state, plaintiff suffered physical and severe mental distress that no person ought to have to endure," the attorney said.
Following the riot, she said, Schrader had to stay in protective custody because of threats to his life for what he did.
Shiffermiller said Schrader's mental health deteriorated significantly because of the strain of protective custody and the continued threats.
She said he also suffered smoke inhalation from the fires started by other inmates. A medical exam showed he had a spot on his lung, but he received no treatment for it.
He was transferred to the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln on Feb. 21, 2017.
Shiffermiller alleges, among other things, that the state was negligent for failing to use reasonable care to protect Schrader from general-population inmates, to properly staff the prison and to maintain security over the inmates.
She said as a result, Schrader suffered physical, mental and emotional distress.
Schrader was in prison on a 14-21-year prison sentence for false imprisonment, terroristic threats, use of a weapon and attempted second-degree sexual assault in Lancaster County.
His lawsuit is far from the first filed over the riot. Many have failed, though in federal court in May, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf allowed Brian Guerry's pro se lawsuit to go forward on claims alleging the state failed to protect him from gangs and fires during the riot and that he was exposed to burning plastic and blood in water in his cell for days after the riot.
The state doesn't comment on pending lawsuits. But in April 2016, a Johnson County grand jury found no wrongdoing on the part of the state.