Third person accuses Hills. Sheriff's Office of abuse

Thursday, February 21, 2008

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Charlana Irving says her arm was broken during this incident. (slideshow)

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A Tampa woman has accused employees of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office of breaking her arm while she was in a holding cell at the Orient Road Jail.

The woman, 28-year-old Charlana Irving, says she was arrested on May 9, 2007 on suspicion of DUI and taken to the jail.

Irving said she knocked on a window of a holding area to try to ask employees some questions. She said when sheriff's employees responded, one of the deupties, Milton Fassett, became physical with her and she said he used so much force he broke her arm.

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"While this was occurring, the first thing that came out of my mouth was, 'How is this allowed to happen?'" Irving said. "I was just completely flabbergasted that I was getting beat up in a jail.

"He twisted my arm back behind me twice while he brought his arm and came down on my arm."

Irving said to make matters worse, after the confrontation she asked for medical care but was forced to sit and wait for hours. Eventually she saw a nurse and was told her arm was fractured.

However, X-rays taken at a Tampa Hospital shortly after Irving was released from jail showed Irving's arm was cracked in half.

"My arm wasn't slightly fractured, my arm was really, really broken," Irving said. "The nurse that saw my arm looked at the X-rays and actually jumped and said 'ouch!'"

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office released a statement to Bay News 9 saying it is impossible to determine if Irving's injury occurred prior to or after Irving's contact with law enforcement the morning of her arrest.

They also said deputy Fassett's responsibility includes maintaining order, and after reviewing the report and video from the incident they do not believe there were any violations of policy or procedure.

But Irving disagrees, and she said she plans on doing everything she can to prevent others from going through a similar situation. She has hired an attorney and is considering suing the sheriff's office.

Irving was charged with DUI and obstruction of an officer. But the State Attorney's Office dropped the obstruction charge and reduced her DUI charge to wreckless driving.

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