The State - News from Feb. 11, 1987

Authorities in Placer County took disciplinary action against a deputy sheriff who was accused of having violated the civil rights of a woman prisoner by chaining her to floor of the jail and belching in her face. Sandra Herman, who was arrested on suspicion of drunkenness last July, said Deputy George Donaldson and other deputies shackled her feet to the floor grating in a cell for more than four hours, refused to allow her to use the toilet and belched before telling her, “You have no rights.” Donaldson was suspended from his post for 30 hours and stripped of a $30-a-month merit raise increase until May 23 after telling the county Civil Service Commission that he had restrained the woman because she was verbally abusive and saying the belch was the “involuntary” result of drinking a carbonated beverage.