Tarrant County jailer slammed inmate, causing broken cheek, collapsed lung, report says
A Tarrant County detention officer who was arrested on Wednesday is accused of assaulting an inmate — resulting in internal injuries — while two other officers watched, according to multiple arrest affidavits.
The injuries included bleeding in the inmate’s lungs, a collapsed lung, multiple rib fractures and a broken cheek bone that will require surgery, according to the affidavits.
One of the officers involved, Dakota Coston, later described the assault as being a “normal thing” in that housing unit.
On July 19, officers Reginald Lowe, Lewis Velasquez and Coston went into Corey Rodrigues’ cell at about 4:54 a.m. without a supervisor present and without a code being called. They said the reason was because a piece of clothing was covering the cell window.
An affidavit for their arrests says Rodrigues threw that piece of clothing at the officers as they swung open the cell door.
Then, Lowe walked inside the cell, stepped onto the bunk and slammed Rodrigues on the bunk. Video footage taken from outside the cell shows that Lowe punched Rodrigues about six times, according to the affidavit.
The other officers were in the cell as the Rodrigues and Lowe continued to fight. Velasquez was then seen on video positioning himself in the doorway to block the camera view, according to the affidavit.
They closed the cell door and left at 4:55 a.m.
The three officers later told another officer that Rodrigues hit them with a muumuu. No use of force report was filled out by any of the officers. All three were earlier involved in an inspection of Rodrigues’ cell that night and Rodrigues “was good during the call inspection,” according to the affidavit. According to the report, Rodrigues was known to “challenge” the officers but was never violent.
When interviewed by investigators, Velasquez described the fight as a “tussle” and said he didn’t see if either men were “making contact” with each other. Velasquez admitted that Rodrigues had gotten slammed into the bunk, but said he “continued to fight” so he thought he was fine, according to the report.
After being shown the video of the assault, Coston told investigators that he felt the event was “passive guidance and not a hands-on altercation.”
Lowe told investigators that he was hit with the piece of clothing — described as a muumuu — three times. Lowe said he tried to pin Rodrigues to the ground so he could get the muumuu, but that Rodrigues kicked and swung back, according to the affidavits.
Lowe said he didn’t believe unnecessary force was used, according to the affidavit.
Lowe was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Velasquez and Coston were arrested on suspicion of official oppression, according to the sheriff’s office.
All three have been suspended from the jail while internal and criminal investigations continue, said Lt. Jennifer Gabbert.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 10:50 AM.
