This post was submitted by Spencer Udell, via the CopBlock.org submissions page.
Date Of Incident: 07/15/2015
Officers Involved: Justin Clemons, Cody Gabbard, Adrian S. Hill
Contact Number: 850-488-5121
In Lake City, Florida, a prison guard and a former prison guard at Columbia Correctional Institution were arrested on multiple felony charges in connection with an attack on an inmate last month. The two officers are being accused of planning an attack on inmate Nate Evans and submitting and falsifying reports to justify the use of OC spray as well as their unneeded use of force.
Officer Justin Clemons and Officer Cody Gabbard were booked into the Baker County Jail Wednesday on charges of falsifying official records, battery on an inmate, and conspiracy to commit battery on an inmate, according to a statement made by the Florida Department of Corrections. An arrest warrant was served on Gabbard at his home by the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, and Clemons was arrested by the Office of the Inspector General and the Union County Sheriff’s Office when he arrived to start his shift at the prison.
The two officers stated in their reports that the inmate spit on them and that order to gain control of the situation they needed to deploy OC spray as well as restrain him with the use of physical force. During an internal investigation by prison officials, a review of the prison’s CCTV cameras showed that this was not what happened. The officers fabricated their reports to justify committing the attack.
The FDOC said, “An investigation into the use of force incident remains open and active, despite the arrests.”
This is not the only recent incident in which the Florida Department of Corrections has either fired or has brought charges against one of its own. Officer Adrian S. Hill was arrested just a few weeks prior to this case on battery and falsifying records in connection with a July 23 altercation between Hill and 18-year-old inmate Phillip Alderman Jr. at Lake City Correctional Institution.
– Spencer Udell
Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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I live close to Lake City, Florida and I’m glad Cop Block exposed the bastards. I hope ? the message is well received at both institutions.
I wish they would tell the whole story about this. The inmate was beaten and a nurse refused to treat him if he did not go along with the story that was made up. Later, medical staff was called to an unresponsive inmate(the same inmate). The medical staff call 911 because the man would not respond to smelling salts or any other stimuli. He was airlifted from the prison and the medical personnel on the helicopter were also unable to get any response from the man and thought he was brain dead. It turned out that he was severely beaten and unconscious. The smelling salts did not work because his nose was crushed and unable to breathe through it. This part of Florida is heavily populated with members of racist organization members. One of those members, Ruben Thomas, a Corrections Department Sergeant at this same prison was killed by one of the inmates he routinely assaulted a few years ago.