A second former jail deputy took the witness stand Thursday against three of his ex-partners on trial for allegedly assaulting a handcuffed man and lying about it in use-of-force reports.
Noel Womack, 36, testified that his ex-colleagues at Men’s Central Jail — Los Angeles County sheriff’s Sgt. Eric Gonzalez and deputies Sussie Ayala and Fernando Luviano — knew about or took part in the beat-down inflicted on Gabriel Carrillo on Feb. 26, 2011, in a jail break room after guards found him carrying a cellphone in the waiting area, a violation of jail regulations.
Womack, who took a plea deal for his part in the alleged conspiracy and is awaiting sentencing, told the court that since being forced out of the sheriff’s department following an eight-year career, he now labors as a warehouse forklift driver.
The witness said when he entered the break room after hearing there was a use-of-force incident in progress, he saw Luviano and another deputy on top of a “flopping” Carrillo, who had been pepper-sprayed.
“There was a lot of blood on the floor,” Womack testified. “I saw his arms behind his back in handcuffs — face down.”
Womack said he heard Luviano tell Carrillo to “stop spitting.”
“I ended up striking Mr. Carrillo in the leg five times,” Womack said. “I was angry that he was spitting at my partner.”
Under prosecution questioning, Womack said he never actually saw the injured man spitting.
When it came time to write up use-of-force reports to justify Carrillo’s treatment, Womack and his partners repeated the same story — that when one of Carrillo’s hands had been uncuffed, he “violently swung his right elbow” and struck a deputy, the witness said.
Asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox if he had told the truth in the report, Womack responded, “No, I did not.”
Womack said the fabricated reports were reviewed by his supervisor, Gonzalez, who approved them.
Another ex-jail deputy, Pantamitr Zunggeemoge, told jurors on Wednesday that the force used on Carrillo was “excessive.”
Zunggeemoge, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and awaits sentencing, alleged that during the 45-second assault in a private break room, he and Luviano threw Carrillo — while handcuffed with both hands behind his back — to the ground and then punched and pepper-sprayed him.
Afterward, according to the ex-guard, he, Gonzalez, Luviano and Ayala “huddled” to figure out a way to justify the use of force in order to complete a “probable cause declaration,” a document used to explain an official use of violence.
Zunggeemoge testified he falsified the report to state that Carrillo — who had come to the lockup with his girlfriend to visit his inmate brother — had started a fight with deputies who were trying to book him for the misdemeanor cellphone offense.
In fact, the witness told jurors, Carrillo was “handcuffed, so there was no fighting or resistance on Mr. Carrillo’s part. He posed no threat to any of us.”
As for Luviano’s alleged use of pepper spray on the visitor, “it wasn’t necessary,” Zunggeemoge said, indicating that Luviano was the primary aggressor.
As part of their plea deals, Womack and Zunggeemoge agreed to resign from the sheriff’s department and never seek employment in law enforcement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lizabeth Rhodes said.
Gonzalez, Ayala and Luviano face up to 40 years in federal prison if convicted of all charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Testifying prior to Womack, Carrillo — who was paid $1.2 million by the county last year to settle a civil rights lawsuit — told the jury of being beaten by deputies while defenseless.
— City News Service