By Ramon Antonio Vargas
The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.
NEW ORLEANS — Two Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were arrested Wednesday and accused of failing to react when an inmate used his metal shackles to beat two other men during a van ride to a state prison in St. Gabriel.
Authorities booked deputies Michael Lee, 34, and Thomas Sutherland, 33, on counts of malfeasance in office, or failing to perform the duties required of them by law.
In the last several weeks, four Sheriff’s Office deputies have been arrested in three separate incidents.
According to investigators, Lee and Sutherland were driving a van transporting inmates to the Elayn Hunt Correctional Facility on Aug. 17 when prisoner Jamie Massey somehow “began to remove his belly chain restraint.” The Sheriff’s Office sends some inmates to Hunt for mental health treatment.
For 22 minutes, Massey hit inmate Corey Simmons with the padlock on the chain and choked him with the restraint, “causing multiple facial injuries and (spraying) blood throughout the van,” officials said.
Massey then struck another inmate, Steven Oliver, several times and used his thumb to poke him in the rectum through his pants, officials alleged. Oliver also suffered facial injuries.
The assault ended three minutes before the van arrived at Hunt. Officials said Lee and Sutherland failed to stop the vehicle or help the injured prisoners. They also didn’t call their commanders to report the attack or ask for help from any other agencies along the way.
Massey was in jail at the time on a 2013 charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Two weeks after the attack, he was deemed incompetent to stand trial and was sent to the state’s mental hospital. It does not appear that authorities have charged him in connection with the alleged beatings.
The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deputies’ arrest.
Criminal District Court Magistrate Commissioner Robert Blackburn ordered Lee and Sutherland released from jail on $5,000 recognizance bonds.
In Louisiana, malfeasance in office can carry up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $5,000.
Earlier this month, New Orleans police arrested Deputy Dernisha Harvey for pulling out her Sheriff’s Office badge and threatening to arrest two customers who had refused to pay for shots while she worked at her second job at a Bourbon Street daiquiri shop.
The Sheriff’s Office also fired jail guard Oshen Heilman after she allegedly admitted to having sexual contact with a murder suspect and to bringing drugs and cigarettes into the lockup.
©2018 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.