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California Sheriff’s Deputy Charged with Pouring Scalding Water on Mentally Ill Inmate
The Guardian
December 14, 2021
Area: Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, California - A sheriff’s deputy in Orange county, California, is accused of throwing scalding water on a mentally ill inmate who didn’t receive medical treatment for his burns for more than six hours.
The county district attorney’s office announced Monday it had charged Guadalupe Ortiz, 47, with felony counts of assault or battery by a public officer and battery with serious bodily injury. Ortiz could face up to four years in prison if convicted, the DA’s office said in a statement.
On 1 April, Ortiz allegedly filled a cup from a hot water dispenser and poured it on the hands of a man who had refused to take his hands out of a hatch door in his cell at the sheriff’s Intake Release Center in Santa Ana, prosecutors said.
The DA’s statement described the inmate as mentally ill.
The man suffered first- and second-degree burns but wasn’t treated for about six and a half hours until another deputy making a standard security check noticed that his arm was red and peeling, authorities said.
“The law imputes a special duty of care on custodial personnel and in this case the sheriff’s deputy completely breached that duty and crossed the line into criminal conduct,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.
Ortiz was fired Friday after a two-decade career with the sheriff’s department, the DA’s office said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
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