Here’s a sample of the abuse claims made against Sacramento County jail deputies

Files showing allegations of inmate abuse in Sacramento County Jails have been released to The Bee by a federal magistrate judge. They include a litany of complaints about prisoners’ treatment by deputies. Discipline in such cases ranges from letters of reprimand to demotions or suspension. Deputies’ names were redacted before being released.

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Other cases include:

‘Throw him in the hole’

June 5, 2015: Inmate Deshun Williams filed multiple grievances after he claimed a deputy at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center “threw him to the ground smashing both his face and mouth while other deputies twisted his arm and ankle resulting in injury,” the file says.

The incident was sparked by a phone call Williams made to his wife during which he allegedly made comments about the wife of a sergeant in a conversation that was recorded. Those comments followed a phone conversation between the sergeant and Williams’ wife in which the sergeant “was discourteous to her,” the file says.

A recording of Williams making the comments was played in front of the sergeant, who told another officer that Williams had “threatened” his wife and he planned to conduct a disciplinary hearing involving the inmate. He also indicated he planned to “throw him in the hole for 30 days and take everything he’s got for 60 days,” the file says.

“Witness officers describe (the sergeant’s) demeanor after hearing the recording as ‘red-faced,’ ‘blood boiling,’ and ‘visibly angry,’ ” the file says. “(The sergeant) stated that he was livid after hearing the recording and that even (another sergeant) jokingly suggested taking his pulse.”

The investigation into the incident found evidence of a struggle between Williams and the sergeant and says deputies saw the sergeant “attempting to control a possibly non-compliant Williams.”

The sergeant and a lieutenant, both of whom were still on probation in their positions as officers, ultimately were both disciplined and demoted as a result of the incident, according to the sheriff’s office. The sergeant involved in the incident was demoted back to deputy.

The lieutenant was alleged to have “made no effort to discuss the incident with any staff or demonstrated any concern about the manner (in) which the hearing was conducted,” and “took no management responsibility to inquire why physical force was used or ensure the use of force was appropriately documented and routed per operations orders.”

That lieutenant was demoted to sergeant.

Deputy exonerated

July 6, 2015: An inmate arrested on a domestic violence charge became involved in an altercation with two deputies during the pat-down process at the Main Jail and the deputies had to “physically control” him, the file says.

“During this altercation, (the inmate’s) head struck the window area of the booking door, commonly referred to as the slider,” the file says. “As a result, (he) sustained a laceration to his forehead area.”

The inmate was taken to Sutter General and treated, and a sheriff’s captain reviewed the case and recommended a letter of reprimand for one deputy “for his misconduct.”

The chief deputy reviewed the incident and decided the deputy “used a low level of force, a push and a bear hug to try to control him before they were able to handcuff him. There were no punches or kicks thrown.”

The chief deputy also found the inmate “was uncooperative at times throughout the pat search,” called him “an asshole” and challenged him by saying, “You think you’re a tough guy?”

He recommended exonerating the deputy, but Sheriff Scott Jones said in an Oct. 19, 2016, letter that he disagreed. Jones ruled that a letter of reprimand and loss of training officer status for a year “is appropriate.”

‘Discourteous treatment’

July 25, 2014: Inmate Jordan Fagan is brought into the Main Jail on a charge of public intoxication and placed in a sobering cell, where he got into an argument with another inmate, the file says.

Deputies entered the cell and Fagan made a “disrespectful statement” to a female deputy, telling her, “Shut the f--- up, b----,” the file says.

Two deputies put him in arm control holds and took him to a segregation cell, and another deputy entered the cell and pulled his legs out from under him, “causing his face to hit the floor,” the file says.

“This resulted in Fagan receiving a laceration to his chin and allegedly breaking three teeth,” the review states.

That deputy told investigators that Fagan fell from his knees to his stomach because they could not control his arms as they were covered in sweat and vomit, the file says, but those claims “appeared not to be supported by the CCTV video footage.”

“The video appeared to show (the deputy) pulling Fagan’s feet up to nearly his waist level,” the investigation found, and he later admitted “his decision to pull Fagan’s feet out was inappropriate for the circumstances.”

Fagan told medial staff “the police roughed him up” and his chin took nine sutures.

Medical records did not reflect dental injuries.

The investigation sustained allegations of “discourteous treatment” against the two deputies and were to receive counseling, the file says.

Video disproves abuse claim

April 11, 2016: Sacramento police arrest Patricia Thompson and she resists and ends up claiming the officers broke her nose, the file says. She continues to resist at booking, claiming deputies used excessive force, pulled down her pants and panties to fondle her, yanked off her wig and forced her to the ground so hard she was unconscious for 30 to 45 minutes, the file says.

But a review of Main Jail video says none of this happened, according to the file.

“Patricia Thompson was handled the way she was due to her belligerent uncooperative behavior, which began on the streets when contacted by the Sacramento Police Department and continued into the Main Jail throughout the booking process,” the review found, adding that deputies were “exonerated.”

Inmate claims bruise eardrum

April 23, 2016: Donald Goldman is arrested on charges of felony vandalism and placed in a sobering cell because he is intoxicated, according to the file.

There, he gets into an argument with another inmate and two deputies handcuff him and escort him to another cell, where they have him go to the ground, uncuff him and leave, the file says.

In March 2017, nearly a year later, Goldman reports to the county’s inspector general that one of the deputies stuck his finger in his ear and bruised his eardrum. He claimed he screamed it was so painful, but that he never sought medical attention.

The file indicates the entire interaction Goldman had with deputies was on video and that the deputies were exonerated.

A collapsed right lung

Oct. 29, 2017: Paul Sutherland is arrested on a domestic violence charge and later claims he suffered fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and a laceration above his right eye after an altercation at the jail with a deputy, the file says.

The sheriff’s review found Sutherland was agitated and “extremely intoxicated” when arrested and that when he was placed in the back of a patrol car with another arrestee — an African-American man — and that Sutherland was able to stand up in the back seat and begin striking him in the chest with his knee while “shouting inflammatory, racial slurs.”

Once at the jail, video shows Sutherland dragging his feet and resisting, the file says. At the nurse’s station, he suddenly broke free from a deputy and ran to within inches of another deputy. A third deputy grabbed him by his throat and arm and backed him up toward a metal chair, the file says.

“Sutherland’s feet came out from beneath him, and the right side of his abdomen appeared to strike the back of the metal chair,” the review found.

He is taken to a hospital, where he is found to have a collapsed right lung, a laceration to his eye and “multiple fractured ribs.”

The review finds Sutherland “was physically resistive and violent and very verbally aggressive” and that the deputy “used the amount of force against Mr. Sutherland he deemed necessary to prevent injury to himself, the other officers and nurses who were present.”

The deputy was exonerated.

This story was originally published December 22, 2019 at 5:10 AM with the headline "Here’s a sample of the abuse claims made against Sacramento County jail deputies."