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Inmate Procedures Reviewed

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By JOSH POLTILOVE and KRISTA KLAUS, The Tampa Tribune News Channel 8

Published: February 23, 2008

TAMPA - Video released last week of a detention deputy dumping a quadriplegic man from his wheelchair at Orient Road Jail made national news, but the quadriplegic man says that wasn't the only time deputies failed to properly handle his disabilities.

Standard operating procedures for Hillsborough County call for transporting inmates with disabilities in vehicles compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Instead, he said, deputies took him to jail in a standard cruiser and took away his catheters when he entered jail.

Sterner held copies of the standard procedures Friday while being interviewed in his attorney's office.

"It's cliche, but it's not really worth the paper it's printed on," he said.

Hillsborough County sheriff's officials recently decided to review their training procedures, said Maj. Jim Previtera, who leads the agency's training division.

Previtera said it felt as if he was punched in the gut when he first watched video of Sterner being dumped from the chair by Detention Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones. While Previtera doesn't think training issues were to blame for the incident, he said deputies have an obligation to review procedures and become more aware of how to respond to people with disabilities.

"In two years, we've made tremendous progress in our training," he said. "This incident, it just really brings to light the need for constant, ongoing professional training in all aspects. ...So we have to take a look at ourselves."

Other Incidents

Sheriff's officials met this week with the Florida Center for Inclusive Communities and the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities to discuss ways to improve procedures, Previtera said Friday.

Hubert Grissom, legal director for the Tampa office of the Advocacy Center, said nothing specific was worked out, but the center may put together a needs assessment report.

"We would make our general resources available and let them decide what they want," Grissom said.

Word of alleged mistreatments at the jail surfaced after release of the Sterner video.

Two other Orient Road Jail incidents captured on video recently were made available to the media.

Wednesday, a woman complained that a male detention deputy broke her left arm in May. On Feb. 15, another woman filed a federal lawsuit claiming a detention deputy pulled her by the hair, slammed her to the ground and punched her.

Although Previtera described the wheelchair incident as inexcusable, sheriff's officials have denied wrongdoing in the other two incidents. They have not responded publicly to a separate complaint from a woman who claims Marshall-Jones abused her in a jail bathroom but have acknowledged that an internal affairs investigation has begun.

Expert's Opinion

Edward Mamet, a police procedure consultant and former New York Police Department captain, saw the three videos via e-mail Friday.

He said Sterner seemed to be no threat and there is no justification for dumping the man from his wheelchair.

"You get some medically trained people, EMS people, to lift him out of the chair," Mamet said.

The video of a 2006 incident shows detention Deputy Shanna Marsh speaking to Marcella Pourmoghani-Esfahani before pulling her by the arm. Pourmoghani-Esfahani pulled back and hung on to her seat, which the sheriff's office says amounts to resisting. The deputy reached for the woman's shoulder and sleeve and did not intentionally pull her by the hair, the sheriff's office has said. Marsh pulled Pourmoghani-Esfahani from her seat, put her on the ground and punched her.

The Pourmoghani-Esfahani incident also seemed unnecessary, since she was sitting in a chair, not bothering anyone, Mamet said.

Told of other factors including the deputy's possible fear of biting and repeated attempts to tell the woman to sit and remove her foot from the chair, Mamet said the incident was more understandable.

"You use force if someone is failing to comply with your order," he said. "But the force must be reasonable."

In a separate incident May 9, video shows detention deputy Milton Fassett removing Charlana Irving from a cell after repeated attempts to calm her verbally failed, a sheriff's office statement says. As Fassett tried to escort Irving from the cell, she pulled away.

Irving was taken to the clinic after complaining about pain in her arm. When it was determined that her left arm was broken, it was placed in a sling.

A sheriff's statement says it is not possible to tell whether the broken arm occurred before or after her altercation with the deputy.

After watching the Irving video, Mamet said he didn't have any problem with how Fassett reacted to the woman. It appeared to Mamet that Irving didn't want to leave the cell and, when the deputy went in to get her, she backed up.

Force was necessary, he said, but "it was excessive if they broke her arm."

Tribune reporter Thomas W. Krause contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at jpoltilove@

tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7691.

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