Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

There is another video making its way around the world. Instead of a wheelchair dumping, this time Tampa Police Officer Kiet Truong was dragged down the street for blocks. How scary is that? He could have been killed. Because of the very real dangerous situations they are often in, I tend to give cops the benefit of the doubt, as I did with the wheelchair incident.

Now let’s be clear here. Street cops have to be alert to many more variables than jail cops. But I don’t think you can say that those jail cops have an easy job, either. Still, I’m beginning to feel very foolish for simply suggesting we wait for all the facts.

Ever since the worldwide outrage toward the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for tossing a paraplegic from his wheelchair, the law enforcement agency has been inundated with phone calls from people who claim they too were treated abusively during their stay in the hoosegow. A handful of those have found video that supposedly backs up their story, and have been featured in your local news outlets.

• While under arrest for grand theft and drug related offenses Tammy Lynn Mojica says Deputy Marshall-Jones roughed her up in a jail bathroom Jan. 10. HCSO says Mojica tried to swallow some drugs, and the deputy was simply trying to get the evidence.
• Charlana Irving was busted for DUI, and says a deputy broke her arm while at Orient Road. HCSO says detention deputy Milton Fassett had to physically remove Irving from a cell after repeated attempts to calm her verbally failed.
• In November of 2006, Marcella Pourmoghani was booked for driving on a suspended license, which was a violation of probation stemming from a previous DUI arrest. She says a detention deputy grabbed her by the hair and yanked her out of a chair, and punched her repeatedly with a closed fist. HCSO says Pourmoghani was being disruptive during the booking process and continued causing problems after “being counseled several times,” and that Pourmoghani grabbed the deputy’s leg, and that the deputy had to use force.

Because of all of that, the HCSO is “looking at ways to better train deputies.” But the accusations keep on coming.

The latest is another handicapped man who was also dumped from his wheelchair. But in this incident, HCSO says the dumping was justified, because the guy threw a crack pipe at deputies. Besides, they say, this guy shot someone earlier, so “the use of force was justified…”

It is becoming clear that the original incident was simply the tip of the iceberg. In that first video, remember looking at the reactions (or really, the lack of any reaction) by the nearby deputies? That suggests that this kind of thing goes on every single day. Prisoners are treated as the scum of the earth, whether they are guilty or innocent.

And look at the official responses for each of the above incidents. Basically, “the use of force was justified,” “the use of force was justified,” “the use of force was justified,” and “the use of force was justified.” Mostly against drunks and drug users.

By using that excuse every time, and with folks like myself giving law enforcement the benefit of the doubt, it could very well be that these institutions think they can get away with murder. In fact, in the hands of these jailers, it’s not too surprising that some folks have died in there.

Of course it’s not just here in Hillsborough County. Polk County jailers have similar problems. There are deaths in jails all over the country.

But who is upset? Not many. Complaints have been made against law enforcement, but they are dismissed with “appropriate use of force” arguments. Maybe it’s because they are just (alleged) criminals. People think “even if they are innocent of this charge, they probably deserved it.” And video cameras don’t show everything. So with not much proof, media shrug their shoulders, and just move on to another story. Steve Otto ALMOST admits it, and says the allegations are “easy to dismiss”:

I’ve been almost as guilty. Not too many days go by I don’t get an envelope stuffed with pages of handwritten material from an inmate in Hillsborough County. The pages are filled with detailed references to that inmate’s experiences in jail, along with the news that he has been unfairly charged.

When I get these I go back and check the records and usually find that the writer has been locked up for multiple reasons and generally for a string of violations.

I received one this week from an inmate who wrote that he is diabetic and went on to describe how his treatments have been messed up in jail, and he identified correctional workers and how they had abused him.

These are letters that are easy to dismiss, or at best taken to an editor to deal with it or not.

But when evidence is overwhelming, the editorial boards are aghast. St. Pete Times: Punish Now Severely. Tampa Tribune: casual cruelty is an outrage.

Which brings me to another question. If the deputies are guilty of just standing around doing nothing while inmates are treated as punching bags, what are we to say about the media?