A man once locked in the St. Tammany Parish Jail has sued the jail system claiming, among other things, a deputy stole his prosthetic leg and nicknamed him “hoppy.”

Herbert Spruell of Mandeville, who served 68 days on charges of cocaine and marijuana possession, also claims jailers failed to house him in a handicap accessible room and shower, which caused him to twice fall and injure his back and hip.

Spruell names Jail Warden Marlin Peachey, two jail doctors and the parish prison system in the suit filed Sept. 22. He’s seeking compensation for punitive damages and pain suffering, according to the suit. Spruell, who stayed in a holding cell for 10 days between May 5 and May 15, 2007, claimed a jailer identified only as “Deputy Rawl” nicknamed him “hoppy” soon after he was booked.

“He enjoyed verbally abusing prisoners and found it amusing that I had to hop around the holding cell over people on one leg after they took my prosthetic leg from me,” Spruell wrote in the suit.

On May 15, Spruell was moved to a maximum-security section of the jail and “was placed in a top bunk with no ladder access, no mattress and this particular tier was only one of many with no handicap accessible anything,” the suit alleges.

Spruell said it was difficult to use the bathroom or shower with no railings or handholds. He filed an official medical request requesting a shower chair and bottom bunk, he said.

Help, however, never arrived, he said. On May 18, Spruell fell off the top bunk while attempting to step on a table to climb down. He injured his hip.

“I stayed on the floor for over 20 minutes in extreme pain,” the suit alleges. He received a bottom bunk seven days later, he said.

On May 28, 2007, Spruell slipped and fell in the shower, re-injuring his right hip and back, according to the suit.

Weeks later, he said, the staph infection he developed from the fall was so severe he was admitted to Lallie Kemp Hospital in Independence, where he was given IV antibiotics and pain medicine.

Later, Spruell’s eyes and skin turned yellow, and he discovered he’d contracted hepatitis B while in jail, he wrote.

On July 11, more than a week later, Spruell was released from jail and admitted to a drug and alcohol treatment program, Spruell wrote. While there, doctors examined his back injury and discovered a ruptured disc.

Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Capt. George Bonnett declined to comment, citing policy not to discuss ongoing litigation.

In other civil filings:

• Donald Scott Jr. has sued St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis after the parish bulldozed his renovated home that was damaged during Hurricane Katrina. The parish ordered Scott to clean up the property and make it safe after the 2005 storm. Scott followed orders when he “cleaned the property, repaired, secured it, made it water tight and made it safe, secure and locked tight,” according to the suit.

Still, in November 2007, the parish bulldozed his home. Scott is suing for loss of renovation labor and materials, home value and potential rental earnings.

Scott argued the home, now renovated, “no longer constituted any health, safety or welfare” hazard when it was demolished without notice.”

• A Slidell couple has sued the St. Tammany Parish School Board for mental anguish, extreme humiliation and other compensatory items after an Abney Elementary School janitor allegedly raped their only son in the school’s bathroom last year. The couple, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the child, claims the board was negligent in hiring Dino Schwertz, later charged with at least 13 sex crimes, including nine aggravated rape charges.

At the time of the hiring Schwertz was a convicted felon serving five years probation for bank fraud and had been arrested for harassing phone calls, issuing worthless checks, a DWI and more, according to the suit.

Schwertz is accused of attacking the children in the bathroom on several occasions in and around October 2007. One victim “began complaining to his parents of abdominal pains and was afraid to attend school. At times when being dropped off at school he refused to leave his mother’s car,” according to the suit.

The parents contacted Abney officials and inquired if anything strange or odd had happened at school, such as bullying, and informed them to keep watch of the youngster. Despite the warning, “School Board administrators acted with indifference to the concerns of the plaintiffs,” according to the suit.

“A simple background check of janitor Schwertz would have revealed this past criminal activity and should have alerted the School Board that he did not have the character and he was not suitable for employment in an environment of elementary age school children,” according to the suit.

Schwertz has not yet been tried for the crimes.