By Jerome Burdi
Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — One deputy was fired and another suspended after a Sheriff’s Office internal investigation revealed an inmate was slapped in the face while he was in handcuffs.
According to the Sheriff’s Office report, concluded in December, Deputy Gregoire Morency, who worked at the Sheriff’s Office since November 2007, was fired for committing the battery in the county jail and lying about it. Deputy Wilbert Gray was suspended for five days because he witnessed the incident but did not render medical care or report the battery to supervisors.
The inmate, whose identity was not released, told investigators Morency ordered the inmates to go to bed at 10:30 p.m. May 15. The inmate said he was using the restroom and Morency told him to get to his bunk. The inmate made a hand gesture at the deputy.
The slap occurred the next day. Morency was transporting the inmate, who was handcuffed. He was giving Gray and Morency a hard time and asked to speak to a sergeant. Morency slapped him.
The inmate, 17, is now serving five years in the Indian River Correctional Institute on burglary and robbery charges. Morency admitted to investigators that there was a conflict and that his intention was to slap the inmate’s shoulder.
“I’m going to get you in trouble and I’m going to tell them you beat me up,” the inmate said, according to Morency.
Morency lied to sheriff’s investigators, saying he told his sergeant about his use of force. Investigators determined Morency was neglectful of his duties, used excessive force and profanity and was untruthful, for which the Sheriff’s Office has zero tolerance.
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