A federal court jury on Thursday rejected claims of two men that they were brutalized while being held in Sacramento's downtown jail.
Robert Hunter was arrested Sept. 17, 2005, on suspicion of drunken driving. He claimed that the toilet in his detox holding cell was clogged and overflowing and he signaled deputies to alert them and request access to another toilet.
"Several unknown deputies responded by throwing him on the floor and applying force that resulted in a fractured elbow, stretched tendons and nerve damage," according to a trial brief filed by attorney Gary Gorski, who represents both plaintiffs.
Howard Eley was in jail March 21, 2004, when he and then-Deputy William Kevin Sowles had a verbal exchange, "following which Sowles shoved, slapped and then choked Eley without provocation," the brief alleges.
Sowles was fired over the incident, but he was dismissed as a defendant in the civil rights suit because he was never served with the plaintiffs' complaint.
The only defendants at the time of trial were the county and Sheriff John McGinnis.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated five hours and found no violations of Hunter's and Eley's constitutional rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
Call The Bee's Denny Walsh, (916) 321-1189.
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