I-TEAM UPDATE: Taxpayers foot more than $250K bill for jail incident
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Hundreds of Richmond County deputies risk their lives to protect and serve.
But on Thursday, a handful remain under the microscope for an incident at the jail more than two years ago.
The I-TEAM has learned that the incident is costing you – the tax-payer – a quarter of a million dollars.
A source gave the I-TEAM exclusive video that blew this investigation wide open.
After we first showed you the video, more deputies were arrested, and sources tell us FBI agents started using it in their investigation.
Three inmates also filed a lawsuit.
This week, behind closed doors, Augusta commissioners quietly settled that lawsuit.
But now, we have those documents.
SEE THE RESOLTIONS:
Let’s start with the biggest amount – $200,000 to Naytrone Adams.
But let’s take a look at what happened to him and other inmates in the jail.
Before deputies ran in, body cam showed inmates with their hands up on the second floor.
Deputies were called to the jail for a riot.
But really, the inmates had popped off sprinkler heads and flooded their pod to protest bad plumbing.
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By the time deputies reached the inmates, it appeared they were all on the ground.
Eventually, deputies escort the inmates down the stairs.
They then force them to lie face down in the water.
On the body cam video, you can hear an inmate is not happy and insinuates he would do something about it if he could.
That was Adams.
The body cam captures deputies removing his cuffs.
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But, before he even stood up, he was punched and then tackled to the flooded floor with a deputy’s arm around his neck.
They also approved a $50,000 settlement for another inmate, Jamarious Walker.
Inmate Brandon Jones received $25,000.
This is the civil suit.
three of them have pleaded guilty.
All three are awaiting their sentencing on federal civil rights charges. They could face as many as 10 years.
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