Brawl Over Bunk Injures 14 at Jail
Fourteen inmates were injured in a possibly racially motivated brawl at a county jail in Castaic, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials said Saturday.
The fight, which broke out at 4:50 p.m. Friday, started when a black inmate and a Latino inmate got into an argument over a bunk assignment at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho’s north facility, Deputy Rich Erickson said.
Forty other inmates joined in the melee, Erickson said, breaking light fixtures and using pieces of metal and glass, telephone receivers and a coffee pot as weapons.
Sheriff’s deputies tossed three “sting-ball” grenades--which release rubber pellets that sting rather than penetrate skin--into the group to stop the fight, which lasted six minutes, Erickson said.
Two injured inmates were taken to Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center for stitches, Erickson said. The other 12 prisoners were treated for minor injuries at the facility, and no deputies were hurt, he said.
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