Williams, ACLU Probe Inmate’s Beating Claim

A San Diego County supervisor and the ACLU are investigating allegations that a jail inmate was handcuffed, stretched face down on the floor and punched and kicked by a group of sheriff’s deputies.

Orned (Chicken) Gabriel, 37, said he was beaten late last month on the day that he wrote a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union complaining about conditions at the County Jail in El Cajon where he was incarcerated.

A private doctor, retained by county Supervisor Leon Williams and the inmate’s mother, examined Gabriel last week and determined that his head, shoulder, back and arm injuries were “consistent with” a beating. The doctor recommended that Gabriel undergo X-rays to determine the full extent of the injuries.

Inmates Corroborate Gabriel’s Account

Three other inmates interviewed by The Times corroborated Gabriel’s account that seven deputies forced him to the floor, gathered around him, then punched and kicked him repeatedly. Two of the inmates said the deputies involved in the attack were known as the “Rambo squad” among the jail population, who have accused them in the past of harassment.

Gabriel, a martial-arts expert who was jailed for non-payment of child support, said the deputies pulled him from his cell on the afternoon of March 29. He said he fell to the floor, lying on his stomach, his hands manacled behind his back. He said he chose not to defend himself because he feared more serious harm.

“I started kneeling and I felt my feet going out from under me,” he said. “They were taunting me, like they wanted to see me make karate moves.

“But I didn’t say anything. I just kept praying, trying to relax my muscles, thinking about the ocean. I kept praying to the Lord.”

Jail Cmdr. Melvin Nichols said Wednesday that Gabriel had told jail officials that he had been assaulted, but that the jail staff “did not deem it to be valid.”

Nichols said a Sheriff’s Department internal affairs investigation has not been initiated because Gabriel has not formally requested such a review in writing.

“Mr. Gabriel or his attorney must file a complaint,” Nichols said. “He can ask anybody in the jail for the form and they can give it to them. He can write a letter to the court. He can write a letter to the FBI.

“There are a number of alternatives available to him. And he knows those as well as I do.”

Sheriff John Duffy, whose responsibilities include running the jails, did not return phone calls. His spokesman, Lt. Alan Fulmer, said that, because of the private doctor’s examination, the sheriff’s office might start an internal investigation of the matter.

“Whenever we have an allegation of brutality, especially one as serious as this, we like to do our own investigation,” he said. “We like to do our own housecleaning.”

Can File a Claim

He added that Gabriel also has the option of filing a claim against the county for his injuries, and a lawsuit if the claim is denied.

Andrew T. K. Aller, Gabriel’s court-appointed attorney who is appealing the child support conviction, said he plans to meet with his client soon to decide what action, if any, to take.

“My first concern is getting him out of that jail,” Aller said. “It’s obviously not too safe for him in there.”

Gabriel was sentenced to a year in jail after a San Diego municipal judge found him guilty in February of violating his probation by repeatedly refusing to pay support for his son, Kevin Lavoyd Gabriel, now 14.

In recent years, Gabriel has done short stints in jail on other Municipal Court convictions for such offenses as forgery, misdemeanor assault and misdemeanor vandalism.

Insulted Deputy

Gabriel said he thinks he was beaten for a number of reasons: He called a deputy a derogatory name earlier in the day, tried to send the ACLU letter, and gathered inmate signatures for a card of encouragement to Sagon Penn, who is a family friend and his former martial-arts student.

Penn, who was twice tried in the 1985 slaying of a San Diego police officer and the wounding of another officer and a civilian ride-along, was acquitted.

His father, Thomas Penn, said Sagon lived with Gabriel’s mother, Billie Nelson, several years ago, shortly before Sagon’s arrest in the police shooting. During that time, Thomas Penn added, Sagon studied karate at Gabriel’s East San Diego studio, the United Karate Federation.

“He was his instructor,” Thomas Penn said. “‘He was more or less like a daddy to Sagon.”

Jim Wilson, a lawyer who testified in the Penn case as the defendant’s former martial-arts instructor, said Wednesday that Gabriel is a master of kenpo and taekwon-do.

Championship Win Recalled

“He in fact won the Japan kick-boxing championship several years ago,” Wilson said. “He beat up the previous champion real bad.”

Gabriel and several other inmates said that, after the “20/20” television news show recently aired a segment on the Sagon Penn case, Gabriel put together a card of encouragement and sent it around the jail, garnering about 35 inmate signatures. He said one inmate drew a picture of a karate fighter on the envelope.

“The card was just to cheer him up,” Gabriel said.

On March 29, he said, he wrote another letter, this one to the ACLU, complaining about jail crowding, inmates sleeping on the floor and deputies harassing inmates.

“It was a ‘Cry Freedom’ letter,” Gabriel said.

Warned Against Letter

He said a deputy warned him against sending such a letter and, instead of mailing it, the deputy placed the letter with Gabriel’s other personal property kept in storage.

Betty Wheeler, legal director of the local ACLU chapter, said Gabriel contacted her by phone and she then telephoned the deputies.

She said there is a notice posted in the jail advising all inmates about a current class-action lawsuit over jail crowding and providing for inmates to send letters to the ACLU about jail conditions.

“I called the jail to make clear there shouldn’t be any interference to sending correspondence out to the ACLU,” she said.

Cmdr. Nichols said the letter was inadvertently placed with Gabriel’s property during a routine cleaning of his cell.

“As far as I know, it was squared away,” Nichols said. “The mail was in his property and it was returned to him. That’s a standard, routine procedure.”

Harassment Claimed

Gabriel said that, on that same day, March 29, he called a deputy a derogatory name because he was harassing him during the lunch period. Later that day, he said, seven deputies appeared at his cell door.

“They handcuffed me,” he said. “They turned me around and slammed my head against the wall. Another deputy grabbed my other side and they pulled on my handcuffs. They pulled my legs apart and pushed my face toward the wall. They twisted my arms.”

He said that they moved him outside, then kicked his legs out from under him and that he fell face-first on the floor.

“They kept punching and forcing my handcuffs and arms back over by head,” he said. “They stepped on my legs. They put their knees in my head and my spine. When I looked up to see if there were any witnesses, they slammed my head back down on the floor.

“When they lifted me up off the ground, we went down the stairs and, when we got to the door (of an isolation cell), they unlatched it and threw me at it. I was like the battering ram for the door. They also slammed my head up against the glass and held me there for three or four minutes.”

Taunts Allegedly Hurled

All the while, he said, the deputies taunted him, daring him to fight back.

“They knew I knew karate and, I’ll tell you, they were scared too,” he said. “They were probably more scared than I was. I knew I couldn’t do anything to fight back and I think the same was true with them. They were provoking me, but they seemed worried about taking it too far, about how I would react.”

Three inmates gave similar accounts.

Frank Smith said he too was first pulled out of the cell, along with several other inmates, and all of them were ordered to face the wall. But Smith said he could hear the shouts and thuds and turned to look.

He said he saw Gabriel on the ground and the deputies crouched around him, trying to pick him up. “He couldn’t walk,” Smith said. He said one of the deputies suddenly realized that Smith was watching and slammed his face back against the wall.

Door Left Open

Not far away, two inmates were housed in the bathroom, where the door was often left open. That allowed them a view of the commotion down the hall.

“They handcuffed him and brought him up,” said Johnny Campbell, a trusty, describing the deputies’ actions.

“They rubbed his face against the wall. They were just punching him in the sides. He wasn’t saying anything. There was nothing he could say. He wasn’t being smart at all.”

And Ralph Chavers said: “I couldn’t watch it. But I heard it. I heard them banging his head on the wall.”

Gabriel said he was kept in isolation about two days, then treated by the jail medical staff with medicine and a wrist bandage.

“I saw him at sick call,” Campbell said. “His face was all scratched up, with one side all scratched. His wrist was swollen.”

Interviewed Sunday, Gabriel said his back, shoulder and spine are still sore, that he is suffering muscle spasms in his lower abdomen, that he has night headaches and dizziness and problems sleeping, and that he is having trouble hearing in his left ear.

Mother Contacted Supervisor

After he was injured, his mother contacted Supervisor Williams, who asked Dr. Rodney Hood to examine Gabriel. Hood had examined Sagon Penn when he was injured by police in the 1985 shooting.

Hood said he saw Gabriel on the evening of April 13. “I did find evidence of trauma,” the doctor said.

“He had muscle tenderness and spasms around the spine, down from the neck to the back, which was quite tender. His shoulders were quite tender. He still had bruises, although fading, on the right shoulder.

“On his right wrist there was a laceration--a scar that in my opinion was compatible with handcuffs that had broken the skin. Although that was healing, he had decreased sensation in part of his arm and his hand nerves, and, if a handcuff is compressed hard enough, a portion of the hand can become numb. And it still appeared rather numb.

“He still had some evidence of redness around his left eye at the bottom and around his neck area.

‘Evidence of Trauma’

“Basically,” Hood concluded, “my assessment was there was evidence of trauma. When or how it occurred is really just speculation.

“I can’t say it was the result of a beating. I can just say it was consistent with one, since I didn’t see it. And then my findings were several weeks later.”

Hood said he is recommending that X-rays be taken of Gabriel’s arm, back and shoulder, noting that Gabriel cannot fully extend his right arm.

Nichols said Hood’s recommendations will be taken into consideration by the jail’s medical staff.

Williams and the ACLU said they are studying Hood’s findings.

“If the information comes to us that there is a serious injury, we will take appropriate action,” said Leslie Wade, the supervisor’s administrative aide.

Took Karate Lessons

Wade said that Williams met Gabriel many years ago when he took karate lessons from him.

Wheeler, the ACLU’s legal director, said her agency officials are meeting to decide what action to take.

“It appears that it may relate to the jail-overcrowding suit,” she said. “And we are very concerned at any allegation that someone is punished for engaging in legitimate discussion about that suit. It’s of concern to all of us.”