Ex-inmate says he was beaten by Santa Clara County correctional officers

A former inmate at a Northern California jail who says correctional officers beat him plans to file a claim against Santa Clara County.

Ruben Garcia says two correctional deputies attacked him in July while he was at Main Jail in San Jose on drug charges, according to a copy of the complaint. The allegations come two months after three Santa Clara County sheriff’s jail deputies were charged in the slaying of Michael Tyree, a mentally ill inmate.

Garcia said he heard deputies beat Tyree to death in August.

“I’m still completely numb,” Garcia told NBC Bay Area of his own treatment in jail. “They threw me down, hit my face on the corner of the bed. I don’t know if that broke my jaw.”

Garcia, a former gang member, said he did not initially report the attack because he was afraid. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.

In the complaint, Garcia says he was placed on July 23 in an interview room on the sixth floor of the jail, where he sat for hours and missed dinner. Garcia said he fell asleep under the table in the room, and was later woken up by a correctional officer, dragged by his ankle shackles and punched in the ribs. Garcia said he was also kicked in the jaw.

He still experiences pain when he eats and is numb in a portion of his jaw as a result, the complaint says.

Garcia says one of the guards who beat him apologized the next day.

“Look what you did to me, man,” Garcia said he told the guard.

“It is what it is,” the guard replied, according to the complaint. “Welcome to my dorm.”

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