By Rummana Hussain
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — A Cook County sheriff’s deputy was charged with knocking unconscious a handcuffed man in police custody by pulling on his leg shackles and sending him crashing face first into the concrete floor, authorities said Wednesday.
The 40-year-old victim, who was awaiting a bond hearing in Maywood when he was attacked by Rafael Munoz, was treated at Loyola University Medical Center for a fractured nose, broken teeth and lacerations to the face and nose from last week’s incident, state’s attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin said. The man was being processed for driving under the influence early July 8, when he allegedly became “resistant.” He was put in a cell with handcuffs behind his back and leg shackles. The man began hitting the cell door with his head and body to try to complain about his handcuffs being “too tight and painful,” Conklin said.
That’s when authorities say Munoz went into the cell with another deputy and “lifted and pulled” on the man’s leg shackles, causing him to fall. The handcuffs kept the man from bracing himself from the attack, which was caught on surveillance camera, Conklin said. Munoz “threw the victim to the concrete floor face first. He was immediately knocked unconscious by the defendant’s act,” Conklin said.
The shove was “without provocation,” added sheriff’s spokesman Steve Patterson.
Munoz, of Norridge, was arrested this week following an investigation by the sheriff’s Office of Professional Review. He was ordered held in lieu of $10,000 bail Wednesday for battery causing bodily harm and official misconduct.
Munoz has been a courthouse deputy since 2006. He will be de-deputized while awaiting trial. The internal investigation remains ongoing, the sheriff’s office said.
Copyright 2010 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.