Saturday, February 16, 2008

Deputy Charged for Dumping Paralyzed Man


10 hours ago

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A sheriff's deputy who was videotaped dumping a paralyzed man from a wheelchair onto a jailhouse floor has been charged with abuse of a disabled person, a sheriff's official said Friday.

Surveillance footage from Jan. 29 shows Hillsborough County deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, dumping Brian Sterner out of his wheelchair and searching him on the floor after he was brought in on a warrant after a traffic violation.

Sterner, 32, said when he was taken into a booking room and told to stand up, Jones grew agitated when he told her that he could not.

Marshall-Jones was suspended without pay, and three other deputies were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Marshall-Jones is charged with abuse of a disabled person, a third-degree felony, said Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee.

If convicted, she could be sent to prison for five years.

Gee said Marshall-Jones was aware of the warrant for her arrest, but that he didn't know when she might turn herself in.

Marshall-Jones could not be reached by phone for comment Friday night. A telephone number listed in her name has been disconnected.

Sterner, who can drive a car but has not been able to walk since a 1994 wrestling accident, was arrested at his Riverview home and taken to the Orient Road Jail on a charge of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, according to records. He had called for charges to be filed against Marshall-Jones.

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