By Mike Nowatzki
Forum News Service
FARGO — The senior sergeant at the Cass County Jail recently resigned after an internal investigation found he used excessive force when he pepper-sprayed an inmate in the hand and face while the inmate was strapped to a restraint chair.
In a separate incident two days earlier, a corporal at the jail unnecessarily used his Taser on an inmate while the inmate was on his stomach and other officers “had gained sufficient control over the inmate,” according to personnel complaints and disciplinary records obtained by The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office.
While use of force complaints are infrequent at the jail – records show there have been five in the past 5½ years – such incidents are taken seriously, Sheriff Paul Laney said Thursday.
“We hold our people very, very accountable when they do use force,” he said.
An internal affairs investigation into the March 18 pepper spray incident concluded that Sgt. Lyndon Worden used “inappropriate and unreasonable” force under the circumstances.
Worden doesn’t dispute what happened but claims he was targeted for dismissal because he questioned the sheriff.
His lieutenant, captain and chief deputy all recommended Worden be fired. The lieutenant also recommended the case be referred to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office for consideration of assault charges, but prosecutor Tanya Johnson Martinez said the case was not sent up for review and was dealt with as an excessive force issue.
Full story: Cass jail sergeant pepper-sprayed inmate, set to be fired