Keep Bailing

Matthew Fleuret received a $750,000 settlement from Orange County after allegedly being tasered 11 times at the Orange County Jail.  The incident was caught on video showing him being held to the floor while deputies repeatedly shock him for about 13 minutes.

Since that incident, Assistant Sheriff Tim Board indicated that a lot has changed within the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the manner in which they use force.  This is being attributed to the newly appointed Sheriff Sandra Hutchens as the motivator reform with the OC Sheriff Department.

Board says Hutchens has already done a lot for the department.  She understands processes of accountability and risk management.  He went on to say that they are a completely different department since the 2006 Fleuret incident.

Orange County has had other problems and incidents as well. (See Orange County Jail Bail Scams, Bondsmen Sue Orange County Jail, Theo Lacy Jail Guards Accused as reference.) Between 2004 and 2007 there were over 400 reports where jail staff used tasers on inmates.

Sheriff Hutchens was responsible for reviewing the “use-of-force” policy and brought it up to industry standards.  Board said the “use-of-force” training programs have been updated as well.  The department’s sergeants and lieutenants have gone through extensive 16 hour training programs, and that deputies are now in the process.

The Orange County Sheriff has been advised that those changes do not go far enough, and to limit the use of tasers to life or death, or serious injury incidents, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.