Orange County sheriffs, an inmate and a cat. There’s lots of alcoholics protecting each other. The sheriff’s live; the inmate and cat die.
Under watch:
Orange County, California Deputy Sheriffs, who allegedly lied, fabricated stories and even compared notes after being ordered not to discuss the case by a grand jury investigating a deadly beating at Theo Lacy Jail. During 45 days of questioning, members of the Sheriff’s Department hindered the probe to a degree the likes of which have rarely become so publicly obvious, with then-Sheriff Michael S. Carona leading the fray. Carona, who qualified for Top Story in TAR’s November 2007 issue, refused to answer a single question, including whether he was the county’s sheriff on the day John Derek Chamberlain, a computer technician held on suspicion of possessing child pornography, was beaten by fellow inmates over a 50 minute period. According to grand jury transcripts, Deputy Kevin Taylor, who sat nearby, watched television and exchanged 22 cell phone text messages with friends while the beating took place. Special Officer Phillip Le, who was on duty with Taylor during the attack, testified he recorded over the first seven to 10 minutes of videotape of the scene after guards discovered Chamberlain’s body. Sheriff’s officials stymied the grand jury at every opportunity, even refusing to produce simple Sheriff’s Department policy manuals without a legal battle. Prosecutors were told that Taylor’s background file was missing, but managed to find he had been the subject of at least two internal affairs investigations for allegedly beating inmates. An assistant sheriff overseeing the department’s background files, Dan Martini, testified that the disappearance of the files made no sense and that he was considering bringing in the state attorney general’s office to investigate, but was removed from his position by Carona two days before he appeared before the grand jury.
Orange County, California Deputy Sheriffs (yes, them again), one of whom reportedly used a Taser stun gun on a cat at Theo Lacy Jail. The cat’s corpse was found on jail grounds. Animal abuse, like human abuse, is almost always rooted in alcohol or other-drug addiction. As pointed out in Drunks, Drugs & Debits, 20% to 50% of law enforcers have the disease of alcoholism, which means they will abuse others some of the time. This is why law enforcers–especially Orange County sheriffs–should be randomly and regularly screened for signs of alcoholism, which would include testing at over .03 per cent blood alcohol level at 8 a.m. (which converts to a BAL of at least .15 per cent at midnight)–at home or on the job.