Iranian Man says Excessive Force is the Official Policy of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Dept.
The question of whether the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department sanctions excessive force as an unwritten policy at the downtown jail should be decided at a trial, U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton has ruled in a civil rights lawsuit. Sheriff Lou Blanas, in his response to the suit, vehemently denies that there is such an unwritten policy and asserts that there is a written policy governing the use of force at the jail. Jafar Afshar, a 40-year-old native of Iran and a naturalized U.S. citizen, filed suit two years ago alleging that use of excessive force was routine by jail deputies after he suffered a massive cut on his head and a concussion while being booked. Noting that Blanas, the Sheriff's Department and the county "dispute the existence of an informal policy condoning the use of excessive force on jail inmates," Karlton ruled Monday that the issue "requires a jury or judge to resolve the parties' differing versions of the truth at trial." The judge threw out part of the suit against Blanas, saying the U.S. Constitution bars federal actions for damages against state officers in their official capacities. As the sheriff in charge of the jail, Blanas is a state official. But Karlton refused to let Blanas out of the suit for his individual role as a supervisor in the Sheriff's Department. If the allegations of excessive force by Afshar are found to be true, the judge wrote in a 13-page order, "Blanas could be held liable in his individual capacity for his action or inaction in the training, supervision, or control of his subordinates." "The law at the time of the alleged incident was well established that condoning a policy of excessive force constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, and a reasonable supervisor would have known that this sort of policy or practice was illegal," Karlton wrote. A trial date will now be set, unless the parties settle. Afshar was arrested by Sacramento police officers early June 7, 2003. He was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, and a pot pipe and less than an ounce of marijuana were found on him, according to Karlton's order. A jail surveillance video of Afshar being patted down during the booking process "shows an officer pulling (him) back and pushing him to the floor in a violent manner," according to Karlton's order. Afshar is then taken away "and a large pool of blood remains on the floor in the area where (he) fell to the ground." [more] and [more]