Electrician Says Jail Deputies Assaulted Him

An electrical contractor working at the County Jail in Vista was assaulted by sheriff’s deputies, strip-searched and forced to stand naked in a padded cell, apparently because the jail staff did not like the way he was doing his job, according to a claim filed by the contractor.

Floyd Craig contends in an $80,000 claim against San Diego County that he suffered a “swollen left eye, sore fingers, humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress” in the incident in March.

In a recent interview, the San Diego man said he no longer bids on jail contracts--his primary source of business in the past--because of recurring nightmares from the altercation in Vista. The episode has also forced him to cancel his voluntary work holding Bible study classes at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center, he said.

‘It Really Upsets Me’

“It bothers me that I can’t go,” said Craig, 42, struggling through the interview, in which he broke into tears four times. “It really upsets me. I’m just afraid now to be around a prison.”

Capt. Jim Marmack of the Vista jail said Monday that Craig was arrested at the detention facility after he left drilling tools where inmates could have reached them. But Marmack denied that Craig was assaulted or strip-searched.

“He had a bunch of tools in an area where inmates could have used them for weapons,” he said. “The deputies asked him to remove them and he refused. So he was cited for interfering with a peace officer.

“But I don’t remember him being strip-searched or going into a padded cell. In fact, I’m just sure he wasn’t put in a safety cell. And I’m sure he wouldn’t have been strip-searched.”

Gino V. Mazzanti, Craig’s attorney, said his client has never been in trouble before and would have had no reason to purposely leave the tools close to the inmates.

He said the Sheriff Department’s allegations were never backed up with formal charges against Craig.

“It’s pretty outrageous,” Mazzanti said. “It’s still unclear whether he was formally arrested. I haven’t been able to determine that. He did receive a date for appearing in court at arraignment, but no charges were

ever filed.”

Mazzanti said the altercation occurred shortly before a series of other allegations began surfacing in April about similar incidents in which inmates were beaten and strip-searched by deputies in county jails. Many of those incidents have prompted investigations by the federal and county grand juries.

Waited Before Filing

The lawyer said that, because of the notoriety surrounding the other allegations, he waited until after he was sure no charges would be filed against Craig before filing a public claim against the county in September.

Craig said he went to work at the Vista jail after winning a contract with the county to install a conduit line for computer and telephone lines.

He said he had been working for about a week at the jail, mostly doing outside installation, and that he showed the deputies exactly what he would be doing. “I went over the job with the supervisor and a coordinator at the Sheriff’s Department,” he said.

He said he subcontracted with Concrete Coring Co. to handle the drilling work at the site, and he and one of Concrete Coring’s employees, Larry Liggett, arrived at the jail early on the morning of March 23.

Banging on a Window

Craig said it was Liggett’s drilling tools that seemed to have first bothered the jail deputies. Liggett, who was contacted Monday afternoon, refused to discuss the incident.

Craig said he does not remember now exactly where Liggett’s tools were set down at the jail as they were preparing to begin the drilling. But he did remember the jail officials ordering him to move.

“They started banging on a window, telling me to get out of there,” Craig said. “I told them I had a contract to get the job done. They kept banging and telling me to move. I said I had a job to do and I had to get it done.

“At that time, six guys in uniform came out and surrounded me. They told me to pick the stuff up. I told the head sergeant that I had this job to do. He said pick the stuff up, and he was cussing.

“As I went to pick it up, they all jumped on me and pushed me up against the bars. They pushed my face up against the bars. They took me in this room and they threw my wallet and stuff all around.”

He said the room was actually a cell, with “soft walls” and a locked door. He said the deputies ordered him to remove his clothes. He said that each time he tried to take off another article of clothing, they kicked his feet or legs out from under him, knocking him to the ground.

“They kept pushing me back in the corner,” he said.

Heard Ladies Giggling

Finally, he said, he stood inside the cell completely naked for about an hour. He was forced to stand facing a wall, with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

“I stood there standing in the corner,” he said. “And sometimes I heard ladies outside, giggling or something.”

He said he could also hear the deputies discussing what do next.

“I could hear them talking about me,” he said. “One said, ‘What are we going to arrest him for?’ and another said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll think of something.’ ”

He said he was eventually given his clothes back, but with one admonition: “ ‘Don’t say anything to anybody.’ And, if I did, they were going to make it look bad for me, that I wouldn’t be able to get any more work.”

Craig said that, since March, he has been unable emotionally to work at jail or prison sites and that the situation has caused a serious financial burden for him, his wife and two children.

He said he once had a chance to do some electrical work for a George Bush campaign appearance in the county, but was disqualified when asked if he’d ever been arrested.

And he said he once went to the state R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa to bid on a job, but was unable to inspect the site.

“I had to leave,” he said. “My hands got sweaty. I got real nervous.”