Santa Ana : Man Sues Sheriff in County Jail Beating

A Riverside County man filed a $1-million lawsuit Thursday against Sheriff-Coroner Brad Gates and the county, charging that jail employees were negligent in allegedly allowing the man to be brutally beaten by several inmates while he was in custody.

Arthur Gamble of Wildemar was being held in County Jail last May when four to six other inmates beat him badly enough to cause a concussion, a fractured skull and cuts to both eyes, according to the suit filed in Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Gamble was being held in jail on a child molestation charge and as a material witness in an unrelated case, the suit said.

“While in jail, (Gamble) was not segregated in protective custody either as an accused child molester or as a ‘snitch,’ ” the suit contended, “and (he) believes that inmates overheard his conversations about both matters during an interrogation, which resulted in (Gamble’s) being assaulted and battered.”