Criminal Charges Filed Against Sheriff's Deputy Who Dumped Quadriplegic Man Out Of Wheelchair

Details

Published on Wednesday, 19 March 2008

Written by Associated Press

A sheriff's deputy who was videotaped dumping a paralyzed man from a wheelchair onto a jailhouse floor has been charged with abuse of a disabled person, a sheriff's official said.

Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, has been charged with one count of felony abuse of a disabled person.

Hillsborough County Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, turned herself in and was booked into the Orient Road Jail early Saturday, jail records show.

She was charged with one count of felony abuse of a disabled person and released after posting $3,500 bail.

Surveillance footage from January 29 shows Marshall-Jones dumping Brian Sterner out of his wheelchair and searching him on the floor after he was brought in on a warrant for a traffic violation.

Sterner, 32, said when he was taken into a booking room and told to stand up, the deputy grew agitated when he told her that he could not.

Marshall-Jones was suspended without pay, and three other deputies were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

If convicted, she could be sent to prison for five years.

An attorney for Marshall-Jones listed in jail records did not immediately return a phone message.

Marshall-Jones also could not be reached by phone for comment Friday night. A telephone number listed in her name has been disconnected.

Sterner, who can drive a car but has not been able to walk since a 1994 wrestling accident, was arrested at his Riverview home and taken to the Orient Road Jail on a charge of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, according to records.

He had called for charges to be filed against Marshall-Jones.

• < Prev