Sheriff David Gee speaks about jail abuse allegations

Tampa, Florida - Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee sits down with 10 Connects reporter Mike Deeson to answer questions about jail abuse allegations.

Hear what he says, tonight on 10 Connects News at 6.

Tampa, Florida -- When a law enforcement officer pulls someone over and asks the driver if they have been drinking, the officer is trying to keep drunk drivers off the road.

Through the field sobriety test, the officer makes an assessment, and if the officer thinks the driver is under the influence, the driver will be arrested and taken to jail.

Defense Attorney Kevin Hayslett says at that point, the person is in custody of the government and they deserve to be treated fairly. However, Hayslett says the videos we have seen make it appear as if that is not the case.

Hayslett is talking about what happens in the Hillsborough County Orient Road jail, where arrested DUI suspects are brought for a breath test.

For example, we have a video of Wanda Sullivan, who was arrested for DUI in May of 2008. As Sullivan was trying to take the test, surveillance video shows Deputy Caroline Jolly dragging her out of a chair into another room.

Sullivan says the next thing she remembered is waking up, because her head bounced off something on the floor.

In her incident report, the deputy admits she dragged Ms. Sullivan, but so far, the Sheriff's Office has not taken any disciplinary action against the deputy.

Sullivan says it is not the Sheriff's Office's job to grab people like that. She says they are supposed to serve and protect. Sullivan says no matter how frustrated they get, it's not right for them to grab a person.

Then there is the case of Michael Markell. He was arrested October 11, 2008. As he sits in the chair for the breath test, hands cuffed behind his back, surveillance video shows Deputy Shaw Moorey reaching for Markell's neck. Markell says the deputy choked him and he had marks on his neck for two days.

Markell's mother, Deborah Dempsey says she never doubted her son, but didn't know what to do. Dempsey didn't know until the past few weeks there was video of the incident that is public.

She says you can't really visualize it until it is put before your eyes on video. According to Dempsey, it is an image that is burned in her mind and never goes away.

After we uncovered the wheelchair dumping about a year and a half ago at the Orient Jail, Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee said he would take steps to insure that something like that -- excessive force at the jail -- would never happen again. However, all the DUI incidents we have uncovered occurred after the wheelchair dumping came to light.

Hayslett says while there is no audio on the tape, he cannot imagine anything that was said that would justify behavior such as this.