Charges dropped for S.F. deputies accused of forcing inmates into 'fight club'

The San Francisco district attorney’s office on Friday dropped all charges against three San Francisco sheriff’s deputies accused of forcing inmates to fight for their entertainment. Prosecutors were forced to dismiss the charges this week because the same sheriff’s department that employed the accused mishandled the investigation and destroyed evidence, including by smashing a lead investigator’s laptop with a hammer because “it had gotten a virus”.

The San Francisco district attorney, George Gascón, filed charges against deputies Scott Neu, Eugene Jones, and Clifford Chiba in March 2016, a year after the city’s public defender brought forth allegations of an inmate “fight club”. Three former inmates at a San Francisco county jail alleged that Neu, Jones, and Chiba arranged “gladiator-style” battles in the jail in 2015, threatening physical abuse, sexual abuse, transfers to more dangerous jails, and the loss of lucrative jail job assignments if the inmates refused to fight.

The deputies organized the fights in areas in the jail where there were no cameras, and they told the inmates to lie if they needed medical attention, the inmates alleged.

The dismissal of charges against the deputies once again raised questions over the effectiveness of investigations when law enforcement agencies investigate their own. “This case illustrates why agencies shouldn’t be tasked with investigating themselves,” said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/02/san-francisco-jail-fight-club-sheriff-deputies-charges-dropped