Court Personnel Trade Charges After Scuffle : Law Enforcement: The county marshal’s office is investigating a court interpreter’s accusation that a bailiff used unnecessary force in arresting her, but the accused told a friend she was interfering with his duties.

A Vietnamese court interpreter who got into a recent courthouse scuffle with a bailiff has complained that the deputy came at her “like a mad dog,” unnecessarily handcuffing her and throwing her to the ground.

The bailiff reportedly thinks that his actions were justified and that the interpreter was interfering with his job.

The county marshal’s office is investigating interpreter Jamie Nguyen’s allegations against Deputy Marshal Richard H. Emmons, Assistant Marshal Jim Hill confirmed on Wednesday. Hill declined further comment on the Oct. 17 confrontation in the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana until the investigation is completed.

Nguyen, 33, discussed the incident Wednesday at the request of a Times reporter and said Emmons’ behavior was completely unwarranted.

But a friend of Emmons in the clerk’s office who knows the deputy’s side of the story said that Nguyen was not treated violently and that Emmons arrested her because her conduct threatened to upset the careful watch he was keeping on a prisoner.

Nguyen said the incident occurred in a narrow second-floor passageway open only to court personnel. She said she entered the hallway from a courtroom where she had just finished translating and was heading for the office to get her next assignment when Emmons pointed his finger at her and yelled.

Nguyen, who is 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighs 110 pounds, said Emmons yelled at her to get into the interpreter’s lounge, about 40 feet away, but she said she wanted to enter an office only a few paces away.

Emmons, who is 6 feet, 1 inch and weighs about 170 pounds, again ordered her into the lounge and again she tried to explain her destination, Nguyen said.

“Then he approached me and attacked me, grabbed my left arm, twisted it behind my back, handcuffed my left wrist and pushed me down to the ground,” she said. “I was screaming, ‘You’re hurting me, let me go!’ but he ignored me.

“He left the (prisoner) unguarded and attacked me for no good reason. He came on like a mad dog. His face was all red.”

Emmons, 42, was an Orange County deputy sheriff for three years before becoming a deputy marshal in 1984, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said. Colleagues describe him as a dedicated, “by-the-book” officer who “knows right from wrong and will not step over the line” into overzealousness.

One colleague, however, said Emmons might have overreacted.

Emmons submitted a report on the incident to the district attorney’s office, alleging that Nguyen interfered with his duties and resisted arrest. Deputy Dist. Atty. Delbert L. Wright said Nguyen will not be prosecuted because he did not consider her actions “sufficiently aggravated to warrant” charges.

Nguyen said she thought Emmons might have been “out to get” her because of a confrontation they once had in another courtroom over her use of the bailiff’s phone during a court recess. Emmons reportedly demanded to know what authority she had to use the phone, and she contended that the court’s regular bailiff had granted her permission.

Emmons complained to Nguyen’s supervisors over the incident.

Court personnel said it is standard procedure for them to step back to clear the way for bailiffs escorting prisoners. Emmons’ friend said Emmons several times told Nguyen to step back when he saw her approach. But she ignored him and then added, “I don’t have to listen to you,” and kept walking, the friend said.

Declaring that Nguyen was under arrest, Emmons placed his male prisoner against the wall and leaned against the man to secure him, then grabbed Nguyen’s left arm, but she broke free of him, Emmons’ friend said.

Emmons got hold of her arm again, turned it behind her back and cuffed her hand, but Nguyen “went limp” and sank to the ground, the friend said.

To avoid hurting her, the friend said, Emmons stooped to the floor with her.

Nguyen was screaming, “I’m going to sue you, you can’t touch me!” Emmons’ friend said.