Report: Prison guards used ‘excessive and unauthorized force’
A Nevada Department of Corrections officer was caught on video smashing an inmate’s head into a wall twice while another officer threw a knee into an inmate, according to a warrant released Thursday.
Officer Brayan Lopez was charged Tuesday with four counts of battery, four counts of inhumanity to a prisoner and four counts of oppression under color of office. Quentin Murphy was charged Monday with one count each of battery, inhumanity to a prisoner and oppression under color of office.
Murphy, 37, and Lopez, whose age was not available, were assigned to High Desert State Prison, according to a prison spokesperson. The department declined to comment regarding their employment status, citing an open case.
High Desert officers had rushed to the neighboring Southern Desert Correctional Center on Dec. 8 after a disturbance among inmates, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General.
Murphy and Lopez were among the group of officers that responded to the emergency. Video later showed that they used “excessive and unauthorized force” to bring an inmate back to his cell, according to the warrant.
Murphy pushed 41-year-old inmate Zackaria Luz into a wall twice while escorting him to his cell, the warrant stated. Murphy also watched Lopez knee another inmate in the stomach and Murphy did not report that conduct.
Luz is a member of a white supremacist prison gang the Aryan Warriors, according to court records.
“Officer Murphy pulled inmate toward the wall again with such force that the inmate’s head made contact with the wall and his pants fall down past his knees,” according to the charging documents.
The inmate Lopez is suspected of striking refused to make a statement, according to Murphy’s warrant.
Officers Timothy Smith and Paul Bowerman also face one count of battery, inhumanity to a prisoner and oppression under color of office, but they had not been charged as of Thursday. Murphy’s arrest warrant indicated they watched the beatings and did not report them.
Detectives tried to speak to Murphy in April but he refused. He was arrested on Aug. 26 on a warrant after Metropolitan Police Department officers spotted his red Jeep near North Casino Center Boulevard and East Ogden Avenue.
He was released on his own recognizance Monday and is scheduled to appear in court again in October for a preliminary hearing. Lopez was released and is scheduled to appear in court in January for a preliminary hearing.
Bowerman and Smith are scheduled for an initial appearance in October.
Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.
