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Beating of Santa Rita inmate seen in recording
An inmate and Santa Rita jail officials disagree over what led to his beating at the hands of Alameda County sheriff's deputies The incident was recorded, but the inmate says he was attacked for asking for medical attention, but a sheriff's official says the incarcerated man provoked the violence by spitting on guards.
DUBLIN, Calif. - Alameda County sheriff's body-camera video shows deputies going "hands-on" on inmate Tariq Coffey.
"You see a person who's lying on the floor, being brutalized, being beaten, being treated as less than a human," said civil-rights attorney Adante Pointer, who represents Coffey.
"Just because you're accused of something, just because you're in jail waiting to have your day in court, does not mean that you're stripped of all your sense of humanity," Pointer said.
It happened Sept. 28 at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. Coffey wanted medical attention but refused to listen to deputies, repeatedly cursing at them. At one point, Coffey spits at the deputies, and that's when they moved in.
Sheriff's Lt. Ray Kelly said the deputies took action because Coffey did not cooperate.
"We're running a jail, we're not running, like a country club here," Kelly said. "He's been very problematic for us while in custody."
Kelly said it was the inmate who attacked the deputies.
"We can't have somebody just lying around on the floor refusing to comply with the rules of the facility and throwing a temper tantrum and spitting at deputies and biting them," Kelly said.
The deputies involved remain on duty. Internal affairs is investigating the incident.
"Uses of force, they never look pretty, they never look kind," Kelly said.
But Pointer said, "Spitting is not the basis or justification to beat someone to a bloody pulp."
Pointer says nothing his client did or said warranted what happened.
"We would never allow a parent to say, you know what, I just started whupping or beating on my kid because they didn't get into bed quick enough," Pointer said.
He says his client was injured in the incident.
Prosecutors have charged Coffey with three misdemeanor counts of battery on deputies. The inmate, who has pimping convictions, was already in jail, charged with kidnapping a Fedex driver in Oakland.
Both criminal cases, though, are on hold pending a mental competency evaluation.