Attorneys protest Haidl hit by Taser

Marisa O’Neil

Attorneys for incarcerated teenager Greg Haidl claim his civil rights

were violated when an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy shot him with a

stun gun last week inside Orange County Jail.

On Dec. 4, deputies chastised the 19-year-old son of former Orange

County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl for sharing a chocolate bar with a

fellow prisoner and sent him back to his cell, attorney Pete Scalisi

said. Greg Haidl, who is awaiting retrial on charges that he and two

friends gang-raped an allegedly unconscious 16-year-old girl in Don

Haidl’s Corona del Mar home in 2002, was on his way to call his

mother when the inmate asked for part of the candy bar.

“He was angry he wasn’t able to talk to his mother over a piece of

candy,” Scalisi said. “He did not know you could not share candy.”

Greg Haidl then asked for his medication and to see his doctor and

was denied both requests, Scalisi said. He wrapped a sheet around his

neck, Scalisi said.

Fearing the teen -- who has been on suicide watch since he was

placed in the county jail last month -- planned to harm himself, a

deputy fired a Taser stun gun at Greg Haidl, striking him in the

chest with its barbs and shocking him with an electrical current,

Scalisi said. He was shocked more than once with the device, Scalisi

said, who denied Haidl was not trying to kill himself.

Scalisi also denied reports that the other inmate was Alejandro

Avila, who is accused of abducting and killing 5-year-old Samantha

Runnion.

Scalisi also claimed that Greg Haidl is kept in his cell for 23 to

24 hours a day and has not been allowed outside since his

incarceration began last month.

An Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman confirmed that an

incident took place, but said deputies had responded properly.

“Senior management at the jail facility reviewed the incident,

reviewed the videotape, and everything was within jail policy,”

Sheriff’s spokesman Jon Fleischman said.