Joplin Police, Jasper County sheriff's department civil suit settled

The trial of a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed he was brutally beaten by Joplin police officers and Jasper County sheriff's deputies has been cancelled, after the two sides reached a settlement, according to documents filed Friday in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The case had been scheduled to go to trial Monday. Details of the settlement were not given.
The settlement was reached with deputies Aaron Richardson, Mike Troyer, and John Luckey. A document was also filed Friday which dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice against Joplin police officer Ron Buchanan, whose name has been associated most recently with his role in the handcuffing and arrest of an 11-year-old boy at a Joplin elementary school.
According to the lawsuit, on Jan. 9, 2001, Wright was arrested, handcuffed, then "forcibly bent over the hood of the police vehicle smashing his head into the hood." After that, Wright apparently smashed his own head into the windshield, according to his version of events, then "defendants immediately assaulted (Wright) again, striking him with hands, fists, flashlights, nightsticks and other similar items until (he) was knocked unconscious."
After that, the petition says, Wright was taken directly to the Jasper County Jail with no detour for medical treatment "although it was obvious that (he) has been severely injured as a result of the force used against him by defendants."
It was five days before Wright was taken to a doctor, according to the lawsuit. The doctor told Wright and the deputies that Wright had blood in his urine and "were advised that if his condition worsened, that he should be taken to the hospital."
Wright says his condition deteriorated and he began vomiting, "his urine became bloody and his right leg became swollen, reddened, and hot to touch."
He was finally taken to McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage Jan. 30, 2001, three weeks after the arrest "where he was found to be suffering from rhabdomyolysis and was suffering from acute kidney failure," which Wright claims were directly caused by the beating.
In the lawsuit, Wright accused Joplin police officers Ron Buchanan, Virgil Henson, and Greg Batson, with being involved in the beating, as well as deputies Aaron Richardson, Mike Troyer, and John Luckey.