by Deb Cupples | Earlier today, I posted about an ex-police chief from Mississippi who was sentenced to 30 months in prison after repeatedly stomping on the head of someone that he'd arrested after a car chase. A few minutes ago, I came across a Justice Department news release from last week, which states:
"Four individuals have been indicted on charges of federal civil rights violations relating to the in-custody death of a detainee at the Lucas County Jail in Ohio and an alleged subsequent four-year cover-up of the role that jail personnel played in the death...."
"The indictment alleges that on May 30, 2004, former Deputy Sheriff John E. Gray assaulted and strangled a detainee in a cell at the Lucas County Jail and then left the detainee lying unconscious without seeking medical help for him, actions which resulted in the detainee’s death. The indictment also alleges that, shortly prior to the incident that resulted in the detainee’s death, Deputy Sheriff Jay M. Schmeltz struck and assaulted the same detainee, causing bodily injury.
"Thereafter, according to the charges, Deputies Gray and Schmeltz wrote false reports concealing the incidents and made false statements to the FBI. Finally, the indictment alleges that Lt. Robert McBroom of the jail’s Internal Affairs Department and Sheriff James Telb concealed their knowledge of Deputy Gray’s felonies from federal authorities and that McBroom and Telb made false statements to the FBI during the course of its investigation of the detainee’s death." (DoJ)
Of course the sheriff and his staff "protected their own." It reminds me of a news release I found back in February about seven cops in Memphis,Tennessee who had repeatedly robbed drug dealers. Not only did those cops take the dealers' money and drugs, they also sold the drugs and pocketed the proceeds.
It's so sad -- and frightening, too. Precisely who is watching the watchdogs?
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