The footage of the incident involving the four Hillsborough Sheriff’s deputies was taken on January 29 at the Orient Road Jail. One of the deputies involved was Charlette Marshall-Jones who is 44 years of age and a veteran deputy. Jones was shown on video dumping the victim, Brian Sterner, who is quadriplegic from his wheelchair.
Sterner was brought into the Orient Road Jail on a warrant associated with a traffic violation. Deputies tipped over Sterner and searched him. He is currently 32 years old and became a quadriplegic when he broke his neck during a wrestling match when he was a teenager.
He had told Jones that he could not stand up. Sterner explains that Jones got annoyed when he said he was unable to comply with her order.
“She was irked that I wasn’t complying to what she was telling me to do,” Sterner said to the Tampa Tribune which shares the same building with the NBC affiliated News Channel 8. He adds: “It didn’t register with her that she was asking me to do something I can’t do.”
Sterner also said: “When I saw that one deputy laugh, that’s when I started to boil.”
Sterner has remained confined to a wheelchair for 14 years ever since that injury.
The sheriff’s department gave an explanation that it was unaware of the incident until the surveillance video was released by the local media. As a result, Jones is currently on suspension without pay.
The three other deputies: 51-year-old Sergeant Gary Hinson, 45-year-old Corporal Steven Dickey, and 36-year-old Decondra Williams are all on administrative leave with an investigation pending in regards to their conduct on the matter.
However, taped incidents like this are not out of the ordinary.
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