This is really getting out of control. It is like an epidemic in Florida jail systems. Much of it has not been getting coverage. This is scary.
Hillsborough faces claims of two more cases of mistreatment by jail deputies.TAMPA - It's in the black and white of the X-ray, an arm bone cracked just above the elbow.
Charlana Irving, a 28-year-old exotic dancer and waiter, says she suffered that broken bone at the hands of a detention deputy at the Orient Road Jail.
Irving, who has notified the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office of plans to sue, says that Detention Deputy Milton Fassett, 55, broke her arm inside a holding cell in the jail's booking area, where she was being held May 9 on charges of drunken driving and resisting an officer without violence. Hers is the third allegation in 10 days against detention deputies at the jail, a facility that booked 72,000 people last year.
First, Brian Sterner, a quadriplegic, claimed a deputy dumped him from his wheelchair. That deputy has since resigned.
Another incident is ongoing in addition to the wheelchair dumping.
An alleged beating, caught on videotape, isn't like the wheelchair dumping, officials contend.TAMPA - Two videos splashed across television screens; two different reactions from law enforcement. Several times after a television station aired video that showed a deputy dump a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair at the Orient Road Jail, several top officials at the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office continue to make public apologies.
"It was like a punch in the gut," said Maj. Jim Previtera, the agency's training division commander, on Tuesday. "You know, you put all your energy and your effort into training people and to putting a professional attitude into the deputies. It's very hard for me to put into words the disappointment."
When a second video surfaced, this time showing a detention deputy hitting a woman, the reaction was markedly different.
"I think it was just not put in the proper context," said Sheriff David Gee. "You have to read the deputy's report. It's easy to make judgments. We can all do that. The TV stations, they threw it out there without any context."
I guess context is everything. Right?
Video included at the link.