When The Rotunda sat down with Inetha Carr in November 2011, she was fighting for justice. Nearly three months later, she is continuing her battle.
Carr used to work for a local non-profit agency in Farmville called Central Piedmont Action Council (CPAC). With the agency, now known as HOPE Community Services, Inc., Carr worked as an outreach specialist helping families in crisis. "I got a joy out of helping people," she said. However, Carr did not know she too would soon need help in her own time of crisis.
Carr claims she was attacked in her job twice twice by a white male co-worker in a supervisor's position in 1998. That person, she claimed, was not properly reprimanded for the attack. Most importantly, she claims that she was mistreated and discriminated against.
While arrest came to her alleged attacker, Carr said the injuries she sustained put her out of work. Because of those injuries, she was left permanently disabled for life. "Even after this person attacked me and I had him arrested, the agency turned on me. I was abused, mistreated and could do nothing right after I had this co-worker arrested."
In addition to the injuries, Carr said the employee further made "racial and sexually provocative comments" to her on the job. Carr says that after the arrest of her alleged attacker, her occupation became more of a hostile work environment. Her home life was not safe either. She claims her attacker would slowly pass by her house frequently just to stalk her.
Hoping for proper justice, Carr went to the court system. When that didn't work, she went to her representative. At the time, that was Virgil Goode. She was fired because of that step. When she filed suit against the co-worker that attacked her, CPAC hired an attorney to represent them in defense of Carr's claims. Carr said the agency lied in federal court, so the case would be dismissed. She added that she strongly feels the attorney for CPAC was paid off. "I cannot prove this, but his actions speak for itself."
Carr began to see a reoccurrence in seizures, brought on from brain surgery she had as a teenager According to Carr's statement in her facts from her filed district court case in March 2011, "The employer was aware of both of my past physical and neurological difficulties, and learned of my exacerbation of the pre-existing condition and new depressive and post-traumatic conditions from which I suffered following the … assaults and the hardship CPAC inflicted on me themselves."
For 12 years, Carr has been through the judicial circuit. Additionally, she has been to the FBI and the Consumers Affairs Agency, both parties that investigated her case. When she contacted the Virginia Commissioner for the Department of Social Services, she was expecting an answer to her question. "When I contacted him, he felt that everything was all right. Evidently, he still feels like everything is all right. But it's not."
Shortly after the supposed attacker at CPAC was arrested, the agency Carr once worked for was restructured with a new director and new name. Still, Carr said nobody seems to want to do anything to address the situation. "They all just sit back singly, except the FBI and Consumers Affairs. But I feel that they did not complete the job."
Carr said, "Going through this, I've learned what judgment is. I'm living today because I get some workers compensation and a family that has helped keep me alive." But Carr told The Rotunda that she earns just under $800 for disability, an amount that cannot replace her suffering. In total, Carr is asking for $3.5 million dollars plus $2.5 million in punitive damages.
"I am standing for justice, even if I'm standing alone," Carr said.
Carr said in early January that her request for a retrial had been denied. She wrote U.S. Congressman Robert Hurt (R-Va., 5th) for assistance and said his office expressed interest in her grievance. She is hoping for a congressional hearing.
Carr said, "It's like I'm not even a citizen. But what do you do in a situation like this? You keep screaming."
