Knox County Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones on Friday terminated a jailer and disciplined two other jail employees after an internal investigation revealed the men used "techniques that violated policy" and use-of-force options taught by the department while trying to restrain an inmate in November.
In addition, a fourth jail employee resigned.
Records show that Knox County Sheriff's Office Corrections Officer Nick Breeden, 36, was fired Friday. He made $30,300 annually.
Corrections Officer Jesse Rudd, 27, resigned. He had been with KCSO since January 2012.
Related document: Incident reports
Corrections Officer Chris Fustos, 29, was suspended without pay for two days. He had been with the department since 2010.
Both Rudd and Fustos also earned $30,300 annually.
Cpl. David Sparkes, 47, the supervisor on duty, was suspended without pay for five days for "not appropriately reacting to these violations," according to the Sheriff's Office. He has been with KCSO since 2010 and makes $36,000 annually.
A 9-minute security cam video released Friday by the Sheriff's Office shows several of the employees hitting 52-year-old Louis Flack, an inmate with a long criminal history who had been charged with aggravated assault. The incident happened Nov. 28.
WBIR 10News had been looking into the incident for several weeks and had asked for videos of the jail employees' encounter with Flack. The Sheriff''s Office declined to turn over copies of the videos to 10News, citing its own investigation.
On Friday, the department released the security cam video, but did not release a handheld video that also recorded the fight from a different angle.
"For now that video is marked as evidence for possible court proceedings and won't be released," the sheriff told WBIR Friday afternoon.
The sheriff said the investigation has not yet been turned over to the Knox County District Attorney General's Office.
Flack was in court Thursday for a hearing on his criminal charge, but his lawyer had the hearing reset.
His attorney, Lance Baker, told 10News on Friday, said he's spoken with Flack's family and "they're very upset and disturbed by (the video)."
He said the family is also considering its legal options.
The video that was released Friday shows five officers rush into the cell as Flack appears to take a swing at one of them. The officers immediately tackle him to the ground, and at least four start throwing punches. The officer videotaping the fight with a handheld camera blocks much of the incident.
Breeden, who had been with the force since 2011, admitted to officials that he "placed Flack on the ground" and delivered "multiple strikes" to his face and mid-section because he was "very combative towards officers," according to an incident report form he filed Dec. 11.
He said officers eventually cuffed Flack and took him to the hospital.
Jailers were initially sent to Flack's cell to transfer him to another one.
Breeden said that when he got to where Flack was held, the inmate initially refused to leave, and that he "attempted to strike me numerous times," according to his report.
Rudd, who resigned during the investigation, told reported a similar story.
He said that a number of officers entered Flack's cell when he refused to cooperate. At that point, he said Flack hit him on his face.
"Inmate Flack was placed on the ground and in self-defense I delivered multiple strikes to the (inmate's) facial area," he wrote in a Dec. 4 incident report.
A nurse soon after told officials that Flack needed "to go to a local hospital to receive treatment," Rudd's report states.
Sparkes, who was suspended for five days, told investigators that after Flack refused to cooperate and before the fight broke out, he requested other officers to bring a video camera to the cell.
According to the corporal's Dec. 11 report, Flack "stood in the cell with an aggressive stance," and that he "resisted from the very beginning . . . by striking at officers, biting and kicking . . . ."
Officer Fustos, who was suspended for two days without pay, said he delivered "multiple closed fist" to Flack's face "in an attempt to stop his attack, but he was still resisting," his Nov. 29 report states. He also said he "did deliver a knee strike to (Flack's) right buttock area."
Fustos said he wouldn't charge Flack "with any disciplinary actions due to his mental state."
