Lawyer for Cheswick man stabbed 37 times in jail says settlement reached with Allegheny County

A man stabbed 37 times last year while incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail has settled a civil-rights lawsuit against the county and two corrections officers who he said let his attackers into his cell, the man’s attorney told TribLive Wednesday.

Shawn Daniels, 43, of Cheswick sued the county in November in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court and sought damages in excess of $75,000. The case was moved to U.S. District Court a month later.

Daniels, who was jailed last year while awaiting trial on DUI charges, is alleging civil-rights violations and a failure to protect.

Attorney Anthony J. Giannetti, who represents Daniels, and county officials declined to disclose terms of the confidential settlement.

The parties reached the deal after a mediation session last week.

“We got him a very fair settlement,” Giannetti told TribLive. “It looks like the jail has a real problem … where corrections officers are having a free-for-all, in terms of letting inmates into other people’s cells.”

The lawsuit asserts that Daniels’ assault was not an isolated incident.

According to the filing, another person incarcerated in the same area, Pod 3D, was attacked by three other men in a similar fashion later that month.

Jail officials referred questions to Allegheny County spokeswoman Abigail Gardner, who declined comment. Warden Trevor Wingard also declined comment.

Daniels, a father of five, had just attended Mass at the jail on June 5, 2024, when he returned to his cell. He said that was when two other inmates entered his cell and attacked him.

Police said Daniels was stabbed 37 times with an orange spork that had been fashioned into a shank using a nail. He was hospitalized for nearly a week.

Daniels sued the county and the two corrections officers he said opened the door to his cell to allow his attackers in.

One of the officers named as a defendant, Joseph Parker, continues to work at the lockup, jail spokesman Jesse Geleynse confirmed Wednesday. The second officer, Juan Donato, no longer works there.

Keyjuan King and Kesean Proctor, the two men accused in the attack, were charged by police with aggravated assault and related counts and are scheduled for trial in January.

Attorneys Jonathan Orie, who represents Proctor, and Thomas N. Farrell, who represents King, declined comment.

According to the lawsuit, despite being charged with a non-violent offense, Daniels was being held in a maximum security pod with violent detainees.

“He shouldn’t even have been on the same block as these guys with violent criminal histories,” Giannetti said.

Daniels told police he had been in his cell getting ready to shower when two men he didn’t know rushed in. Police identified them as King and Proctor.

King, then 25, was being held on weapons charges and unlawful restraint, according to court records, and Proctor, then 20, was awaiting trial on firearms charges.

According to the lawsuit, around 6:15 p.m. Proctor and King motioned to two corrections officers, Parker and Donato, to open Daniels’ cell door.

When the two entered, they immediately placed a towel over the cell window to block the view and attacked Daniels, according to the lawsuit.

Proctor and King bound Daniels’ hands and legs behind his back and assaulted him for 39 minutes, the lawsuit said, including stabbing him with the shank, punching and kicking him.

“ ‘You gonna die,’ ” the men told him repeatedly, police said.

According to the lawsuit, the motive for the attack was to extort money from Daniels.

Near the end of the assault, the lawsuit said, King and Proctor called Daniels’ daughter from his jail-issued tablet, demanding she send them $1,000 through Cash App, police said.

She immediately suspected something was wrong and asked to speak to her father.

According to the criminal complaint, King and Proctor refused to put Daniels on the video screen. Eventually, the call ended, and she called her mother, telling her she thought her father was being attacked.

The mother called the jail at 7 p.m. and spoke to an officer.

“She advised (the officer) that she believed Daniels was being murdered in his cell,” the lawsuit said.

According to the criminal complaint, Proctor and King left the cell at 6:54 p.m. The lawsuit alleges Daniels remained in his cell for another 30 minutes until two other officers discovered him.

He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital.

Daniels’ lawsuit included claims for civil rights violations, including failure to protect, and failure to properly classify inmates and train officers.

It also alleges jail policy precludes corrections officers from allowing others access to someone’s cell, and that Parker and Donato should have immediately investigated when the window was covered.

The lawsuit asserts Donato and Parker were disciplined for their failure to intervene, but a county spokeswoman could not confirm that when the lawsuit was filed last year.

Daniels pleaded guilty to DUI on Nov. 18 — it was his fifth drunken driving arrest — and was sentenced to time served and probation. He was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.