MUSCATINE, Iowa (AP) - The Muscatine County sheriff has refused to publicly disclose how he determined no rules or policies were broken when a mentally ill jail inmate was repeatedly shocked with a stun gun last fall.
The Des Moines Register reported (https://dmreg.co/1ay9uuY ) in its Saturday edition that Sheriff Dave White has not responded to more than a dozen requests for documentation or interviews. And some are now calling for an independent investigation.
Marie Franks was shocked four times in eight minutes during the Oct. 7 incident. Jail security video seems to show some of the jolts being delivered while the 58-year-old woman was being held down or handcuffed and in leg restraints.
Jail staffers were trying to force her to change her clothing because she might have been wearing something she could have used to hurt herself or others. Authorities had charged Franks with assaulting an officer three days earlier on Oct. 4.
Franks suffers from bipolar disorder, but she was off her medication while in jail for repeatedly calling 911 but refusing to talk to dispatchers.
The Register reports that it filed a public records request this month for copies of any report in which White made his conclusions that no rules or policies were violated when his jail staff shocked Franks.
White answered the records request by email, saying no documents were generated in the incident. When the newspaper sent a follow-up asking him to explain how he made his determination, it said White responded, “No!”
White did not immediately return phone and email messages on Saturday from The Associated Press.
Karl Reichert, an alternate member of the Muscatine County Democratic Central Committee, said he was concerned that White, also a Democrat, and other officials “are refusing to talk.”
“I’m sorry but that woman was tortured,” Reichert said. “You take a look at those videos. Waterboarding would have been less painful.”
The committee plans to meet next week to discuss what steps can be taken to get to the bottom of what happened.
“We’re not trying to blame anyone, but we’re trying to see if a problem can be corrected,” Reichert said. “The central committee felt this is such an important issue that it should be addressed publicly, and that’s the reason we decided to become involved.”
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Information from: The Des Moines Register, https://www.desmoinesregister.com
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