Inmate claims beating at hands of four deputies

The Register-Guard ^ | May 11, 2004 | Bill Bishop

[Clinging Bitterly]

---

www.registerguard.com | © The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon

---

May 11, 2004

Inmate claims beating at hands of four deputies

By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard

A 19-year-old Eugene man who says he was beaten by four deputies in front of dozens of witnesses Friday night at the Lane County Jail is preparing to sue the county over an eye injury, bruises and other wounds.

Dustin Raymond Robert Stewart said the attack was unprovoked and began about 10 p.m. as he was sleeping in the jail's holding cell - a large room where inmates wait to be booked into the main jail. Attempts to reach three witnesses whose phone numbers Stewart supplied were unsuccessful Monday night.

The jail's security specialist, Bob Hickok, acknowledged that there had been an incident involving Stewart. However, he said the sheriff's policy is to not comment publicly about such allegations, but to do a fair and complete investigation whenever a citizen files a complaint alleging abuse by jail deputies.

Stewart has not yet filed an official complaint but said he intends to.

	Dustin Stewart says he can't focus his right eye after he suffered a beating Friday at the Lane County Jail. Photo: Paul Carter / The Register-Guard

Stewart said he was arrested around 10 a.m. Friday. Court records show he was wanted for failing to go to the jail last year to serve a 20-day sentence on three counts each of forgery and theft. Court records show no other convictions and he said he'd never been to jail before Friday.

Stewart said other inmates told him that jailers were calling his name while he slept. He said he awoke to find a female deputy pulling him by his big toes. "That's when it started," he said. "In no way whatsoever did I show any physical aggression to them. None at all."

The female deputy kicked him in the groin and punched him, he said. Three male deputies joined her, rolling him to his stomach, handcuffing him behind his back, stomping on his knees, pulling his shirt up over his head after pepper spraying his face, and kicking and punching him.

His clothes are blood-stained from the attack. He said his right eye still does not focus and has a blind spot.

"I was begging them to stop. They knocked me out a couple times," Stewart said. "I woke up a couple times through it. Thirty-seven people in the holding cell saw this happen to me."

Stewart said the deputies dragged him down the hall - possibly by his ears, as he has bruises on the backs of his ears where thumbs would have been placed. He said he was then held in a solitary cell without food until he was released Saturday at 11 p.m. due to jail overcrowding.

All the while, he said he received no medical attention for his injuries. "They didn't even wipe off the mace," he said.

Hickok said deputies, like all police officers, must adhere to use-of-force rules that are taught in basic training and reinforced throughout their careers. Whenever force of any kind is used in the jail, the deputy must report it in writing for review by supervisors, he said.

So far in 2004, 195 incidents have been reported inside the jail where inmate misconduct led to some level of intervention by a deputy. Some of the incidents may have involved breaking up fights and may involve no more than verbal orders from a deputy. Another 18 incidents were documented where deputies used physical force to control combative inmates.

Stewart said he intends to file a lawsuit. "They ain't going to get away with this," he said. "I don't want this to happen to another human."

---

[Clinging Bitterly]

I know this kid. I talked to his stepdad last night about this, I explained that there was a time when I would have figured anybody with his background getting beat up by the cops was just getting what they deserved, but that in recent years I have heard many accounts from people who I know and trust, and lately I tend more to believe the folks who are getting beat up and charging unnecessary roughness.

This kid is a scumbag, a habitual doper who is not likely to make anything decent of himself without making some drastic changes, but I doubt he'd be trying to fight the cops. He has had enough contact with them that I'm sure he knows "resistance is futile".

On television tonight, the sheriff commented, saying he understood there was "some resistance" on the part of Stewart. Of course, there will be a full investigation.

[cavtrooper21]

I was going to make a "smart" crack about leashes and women's undies, but that kids's eye is messed up.
That's no shiner.
Doper or no doper, smacking the inmates around isn't cool, at least it was frowned upon when I worked as a SD in Texas.
However, "getting someones attention" or "maintaining respect" were not, but you never used your fist, hand or foot and NEVER to the face or groin. A tap with an ASP baton just above the knee or elbow gets the point across with out undue harm or humiliation.
The whole thing is about respect, restraint and control.
Sounds to me like there was very little in that facility on that particular night.

[af_vet_1981]

Investigate. If warranted prosecute to the full extent of the law and put any bad cops in prison for the maximum sentence possible.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Investigate.

Yeah that's it. Call the cops.

[Uncle Miltie]

Sadly, they seem to have picked the wrong fellow to rough up. Now I could point out a number of Anarchists I saw at the Battle in Seattle (WTO) from Eugene who started a riot. THOSE folks deserve what this fellow got.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Sadly, they seem to have picked the wrong fellow to rough up.

I doubt much will come of it. A couple years back my niece, a tiny little 20 year old, got smacked around by a couple of cops (knees, elbows and face scratched up real good from contact with pavement) for questioning their authority to detain her and a couple friends who were behaving lawfully (walking from one girl's house to another, where doubtless they intended to smoke some dope or maybe do some drinking).

She shopped for a lawyer to help her make a case, they all told her she was wasting her time.

[Clinging Bitterly]

I think using too much force in situations where there's no great threat creates an abundance of youth who will go about with no respect for the law. That's dangerous. One should not lose that respect until they are, like myself, old enough to know how to behave and survive without it.

[Clinging Bitterly]

THOSE folks were sort of egged on and emboldened by the media and community reaction to the cops' manner of interaction with them at a couple of events that took place here in town in the preceding year. In the first incident, the cops totally lost their cool on them when they staged a sort of sit in at a construction site. Everyone saw the video on the evening news, and it was clear the police were acting out of anger in their treatment of some of the folks at that protest, instead of just professionally doing what needed done. In the latter incident, they went into town intent on disrupting traffic as a means of drawing attention to themselves. The cops again reacted with more anger than professionalism and the ensuing melee was like none this town had seen before.

All of that set the stage for what happened in Seattle - the situation would likely have been more controllable had the cops reacted more professionally to their first major escapades in Eugene.

[af_vet_1981]

Yeah that's it. Call the cops.

No, by all means, you call Jesse Jackson ...

[eastforker]

The reason most lawyers won't touch it, especialy in a small district is because they don't want to fall out of favor with the judge or the DA. The bench and the DA do not like someone exposing their domain. Now, if he got a lawyer that doesn't normaly practice in that district he might have a chance.

[Free Trapper]

I once took some bad blows to my face that caused one eye to turn "bright" red and wouldn't focus.I looked much worse than this young man.

By working very hard to focus,bit by bit I got my vision back after about 6 weeks.

Hope this young feller recovers and straightens up his act.

[Uncle Miltie]

Baloney. I watched a well coordinated, almost military precision, destruction of downtown Seattle by those black clad Eugeniacs. THAT was organization.

They arrived from four directions, converging on Westlake Center at a specified minute, right in the middle of the parade. They met, pulled down their face-masks, drew their hammers, and went up and down each street bashing in windows, and calling for everyone else to join them.

All of this happened within mere seconds. They were very well organized. I watched it.

That behavior is staged political voilence against the purposes of WTO. Eugene's Cops' behavior was not a factor that day.

Later, they holed up in a vacant building ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE SEATTLE POLICE STATION. Paul Schell, the WUSS MAYOR OF SEATTLE ordered the police to leave them alone rather than arrest them.

I quite imagine they went back to Eugene emboldened by their "victory." Not a one was arrested, if recollection serves. And, several subsequently won lawsuits against the city for the use of pepper spray by cops.

Thanks Eugene!

[Clinging Bitterly]

No, by all means, you call Jesse Jackson ...

I know what you're saying. But we all know what that sort of character is about, and where their real interests lie. A lot of jurisdictions have some sort of independent review commission made up from a cross section of the community. Lots of folks around here would like to have a go with something like that, but the various government entities have been haggling over just how to do that for a few years now, and what has been put in place so far doesn't have the power to do much at all.

And it's a tough situation. Few people are interested in getting involved in that sort of thing that don't come with a set of preconceived notions and a matching agenda. I'd have to admit having some strong feelings about the sort of things cops should or shouldn't be in the business of doing, but I'd like to think I'd be capable of taking witness statements and other evidence and making a fair assessment. If we had a commission that wasn't more than a waste of perfectly good air, I'd apply.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Yeah bloodshot like that (or whatever it's called) is sort of scary looking, but they almost always heal without any permanent affects. I've had my nose kicked off the bone(accidentally), and it has a permanent bump where the soft part stuck back on sort of out of alignment, and had my teeth knocked in (on purpose) and they did stay turned in and sort of crooked - the two front teeth overlap one another just enough that I have a nearly invisible but constant reminder that getting into fights is not a good thing (cuz it hurts when you get your teeth kicked in, and even the scrawniest little pipsqueak is capable of doing it). Nice teen age lesson - has served me well in the years since.

[Free Trapper]

An active life has given me "too" much experience with physical damage.

Several times I've used sticks,like popsicle sticks,to slowly pry teeth back into at least reasonable alignment.

Stewart's major long term damage could be in the nerves.

One side of my face is numb because of nerve problems from getting jumped by yuts about 25 years ago and will never get better.At least I was able to walk away...the yuts weren't.

[Clinging Bitterly]

That crowd was pretty well organized for an outfit that calls themselves anarchists. I doubt anywhere near a quarter of the mob was actually from the group that calls Eugene home. That the ones who were stupid enough to identify themselves in the national media were is telling.

And they did come back to do a sort of anniversary demonstration here in town shortly thereafter. It was announced in advance as a "peaceful march" from their environs in what we call the Whiteaker neighborhood to downtown, and it was going down exactly as advertised when a large assembly of cops in full riot gear (without name tags) met them head on and started pulling them down and beating them up.

I have no use for the anarchists' politics, and to counter that there is plenty of opportunity for honest and open debate, which would easily put them in their place in a slam dunk. Same goes for their propensity to disregard the rights of others by destroying their private property. That is not civil disobedience, so by all means, when they are caught they need to be hauled in and dealt with as criminals, with a proper arrest, trial, and finally punishment. But the punishment part has to come last, because that is the way our system is supposed to work.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Stewart's major long term damage could be in the nerves.

From that incident, perhaps. But until he decides to lay off the crank he isn't likely to recognize it for what it is. In hindsight, the sheriff might regret the jail staff denying him medical attention when he requested it. A toxicology analysis on his blood might have been enough to keep him quiet. Which is just another argument that the police in this town don't conduct their business as professionally as they should.

[Clinging Bitterly]

And what, by the way, is a yut? FR spell check suggests you might be referring to a yurt or hut (doubtful), or perhaps a nut, but I was thinking something more akin to a yahoo even though that was not one of the listed options. Inquiring minds are just curious.

[Free Trapper]

HeHe! Think "youths",like when Jesse Jackson gets upset about how the "yuts" involved in a riot are treated by the Police. ;)

Proper spelling of yuts could be youts or yoots.I've seen a number of spellings.

Nothing at all to do with the Ute Tribe. :O)

[Clinging Bitterly]

Yoots, I see now. Thanks.