FLORIDA – A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy was indicted for beating a inmate at the jail’s medical area and charged with using excessive force and filing a false report, federal officials announced Tuesday.
The beating was captured by a jail surveillance camera, officials said.
The two-count indictment states that Deputy William D. Wheeler, 46, was assigned to the Corrections Division West Detention Center located at Belle Glade, Florida.
The complaint alleges that this is what happened:
- Wheeler escorted an inmate, J.S., to the medical area of the facility where he was seated in a chair with his hands restrained behind his back with handcuffs.
- J.S. did not comply with the treating nurse’s attempt to review his medical bracelet.
- The defendant lifted the inmate’s arm to read the medical bracelet, the inmate pulled his arm away.
- Wheeler then placed his hands around the inmate’s neck, struck the inmate’s head against the wall and pulled the inmate to the floor.
- The defendant then struck the inmate in the face with his knee. The inmate sustained facial injuries as a result of the incident, which was allegedly captured on a video recording.
- Wheeler prepared an incident report regarding the use of force. He was later questioned regarding the incident and claimed to have been physically assaulted by the inmate.
- Authorities allege that Wheeler’s version of the events is not corroborated by the video footage.
If convicted, Wheeler faces up to 30 years in prison, officials stated.
Wheeler is presumed innocent until proven guilty.