Federal civil rights lawsuit alleges deputies' brutality

Jury hears jail claims
Federal civil rights lawsuit alleges deputies' brutality.
By Denny Walsh - dwalsh@sacbee.com | Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, October 31, 2007

A Sacramento man testified in federal court Tuesday that he was brutalized two years ago by sheriff's deputies while being booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail.

Branden Johnson testified that he did nothing to justify the harsh treatment he was subjected to by deputies.

The 23-year-old Johnson's civil rights lawsuit is being heard by a jury of four women and four men in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Beistline.

Johnson claims he was slammed face-first onto the concrete floor of the jail's garage, tossed into a padded cell and briefly knocked unconscious when his head hit the wall, and chained for a time to a floor grate that served as the cell's toilet.

All the while, Johnson testified, his hands were cuffed so tightly behind his back that his right wrist suffered permanent damage.

According to a trial brief filed by Johnson's attorneys, he "was hit across the face, shoulders and body, resulting in cuts and bruising on his face and body, as well as fractures to his ribs, nose and shoulder."

"I told them they were treating me like an animal," Johnson recalled. "I was disrespected and humiliated."

The suit seeks monetary damages in an unspecified amount and names the county, the Sheriff's Department and former Sheriff Lou Blanas as defendants.

It alleges that, as of the date of the incident – Oct. 29, 2005 – "there was an unwritten policy and/or code of conduct at the Sacramento County main jail which permitted the use of excessive force against inmates and those" being booked.

The county is vigorously defending the suit, insisting there was no such unwritten policy and contending that jail personnel had no intent to harm Johnson and did no more than was necessary to control a combative prisoner.

The jury will be asked in the first phase of the trial to decide whether the deputies used excessive force. If the panel determines excessive force was used, the second phase of the trial will focus on whether it was used in accordance with a policy. If the jurors agree that a policy was the underlying cause of the excessive force, they may award damages.

The Johnson case was featured in a series of Bee articles on excessive force, lack of medical care and other problems at the jail. In the wake of the articles, a rigorous new protocol was drafted that requires that deputies' use of force be thoroughly documented and reported up the chain of command.

"That new protocol is making a difference," Capt. Scott Jones, the jail commander, said in an interview early this year. "The officers are accountable, and uses of force are reviewed."

Johnson, then 21, was arrested by Sacramento police officers in the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2005, suspected of driving while intoxicated.

When the city officers reached the jail, Johnson refused to get out of the car, saying he had been promised his handcuffs would be loosened and he would be able to telephone his father, a retired state correctional officer, and those things hadn't happened.

One of the city officers summoned deputies who, according to Johnson, pulled him out of the patrol car, slammed his upper body into the vehicle's roof, and then took him down hard on the garage floor.

Parts of Johnson's 14 hours at the jail were captured on the facility's video cameras and were played on a big screen for the jury during Tuesday's direct examination of Johnson.

Some brief scuffling can be seen on film of Johnson being photographed, but nothing that would cause injuries to him. Deputies can be heard saying, "Stop biting the deputy" and "Stop trying to kick the deputy." Johnson denied he was doing those things.

"I told them I was not resisting," he testified.

The jury also saw film of blood being forcibly drawn from Johnson.

"This is illegal," Johnson can be heard on the film of the blood draw. "All you guys are going to be unemployed, I swear. I'm going to sue every single one of you guys."

The blood test showed an alcohol level of 0.12 percent, well over the legal limit of 0.08 percent, as well as marijuana and Ecstasy in Johnson's system, defense attorney Jesse Rivera told the jury in his opening statement.

Johnson testified that he uses marijuana for medical purposes and has since he was 18. He denied ever using Ecstasy and said he has no explanation for that reading.

His DUI prosecution is still pending.