NY Man Says Rodent Bit Him on His Penis While He Was in Jail; LAWSUIT CAN PROCEED

Pink. · #1 ● 01-20-2011, 09:06 PM

Associated Press

3:45 p.m. EST, January 13, 2011

A man who claims a rodent bit him on the penis while he was being held in a New York jail can proceed with a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming county officials should have had better pest control, a judge has ruled.

Peter Solomon claims in his lawsuit against Nassau County that a rodent came out of a hole in his mattress and bit him while he was jailed in February 2007 on a charge of menacing his wife. He's a Vietnam veteran who says he was already suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Solomon sued the following year, claiming "deliberate indifference to his health and safety in failing to adequately protect him from rodents." Solomon claims he suffered emotional distress, and his attorney said Thursday that Solomon has "complete sexual dysfunction."

U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt recently denied Nassau County's motion for dismissal, ruling that Solomon had raised enough issues about the county's pest control procedures at the East Meadow jail for the lawsuit to proceed. The ruling was first reported Thursday in the New York Law Journal.