The mothers of the children of a former Loreauville High School quarterback filed a federal lawsuit last week alleging that Iberia Ward Sheriff Tommy Romero and then Iberia Ward jailer Anthony Green along with several unnamed agents and medical personnel There was nothing to prevent Raymond Bonnette from committing suicide in custody in the past year.
Katja Coway and Morgan Elizabeth Marks filed the lawsuit together on behalf of their children with Bonnette on July 21, the anniversary of Bonnette’s death, in the US Court for the Western District of Louisiana in Lafayette.
Bonnette was arrested on July 18, 2020 on charges of failing to appear in court for child support he owed.
He was dead three days later. According to the lawsuit, he hanged himself in his prison cell after being “held in unsupervised solitary confinement with materials that could commit suicide”.
Bonnette graduated from Loreauville High School in 2014. He was the school’s quarterback and defensive back. He also played basketball as a guard and was a member of the athletics team, where he threw the spear.
The lawsuit alleges that Bonnette “behaved unpredictably and bizarre” in front of four nameless MPs and that they should have taken steps to obtain medical help for him.
“John Doe # 1-4 did not request that Mr. Bonnette be monitored or put on suicide watch, yet
Despite his obvious, acute psychological distress, he did not take any measures to protect Mr Bonnette, ”the complaint said.
The lawsuit also alleges that four unnamed medical personnel in the prison also negligently failed to take any steps to provide assistance to Bonnette.
“Despite medical training, John Doe # 5- # 8 has taken no action to ensure that Mr. Bonnette
housed in such a way that he was protected from suicide ”, it says in the file.
Another unnamed health care provider is also listed in the lawsuit, as is the Iberia local government. The only two named individuals in the civil suit are Romero and Green.
Green took on the role of Overseer in 2018, replacing Paul Scott, who had taken on the role of Overseer at St. Mary Parish Jail, where he had worked at Iberia Parish prior to his tenure. Green has since given up his position as a guard at the Iberia Parish Jail.
The lawsuit seeks both indemnity and punitive damages for Coway and Marks and their children.
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