YET MORE LITIGATION EMANATING FROM OMAR LUCIO'S JAIL

Special to El Rrun-Rrun

Well, the other shoe is now ready to drop.

If you remember our post on the incident involving a jail gransport guard forgetting two prisoners in a van outside the Rucker-Carrizales corrections facility that resulted in medical treatment for he prisoners and the termination and disciplining of two guards,this pat March, the fallout from that snafu  not over yet.
https://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2020/03/another-jail-transport-foible-over-at.html?m=0

Apparently, the terminated guard, identified by the Cameron County Sheriff's Dept. as Eduardo Gonzalez, is ready to pull the litigation trigger as soon as the county's public information officer releases the incident reports.

However, that might not happen soon since the county - and Sheriff Omar Lucio - has sought to withhold the information claiming the pending litigation and the protection of the privacy of the guards and inmates.

In an information request made May 11 by woman named Susana Pedregal, of Brownsville, she requested the information related to the he incident that happened sometime between March 9 and March 29 and frequested the names of defendants, the guards, and copies of the reprimands.

The request was forwarded to Capt. Javier Reyna who then relayed it to Public Information Officer and Civil Division attorney Dylbia Vega.

Lorraine Valdez, of the PIO office, informed Pedregal she could contact the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to obtain the he information she sought. Later, Vega informed Pedregal that the county was asking the Texas Attorney General's Office that  could be county was asking that it withhold information responsive to the request because of its "confidential" nature.

Gonzalez was terminated March 12 and he appealed his termination March 13. The Civil Service Commission considered his appeal April 20.

Vega included the county's brief to the AGO where it asked for it to approve the withheld information. That has stopped Gonzalez crom filing his lawsuit where he contests the decision by the county's Civil Service commission against his termination.

At the time of the incident on March 11, sources at Carrizales say that two transport guards were returning seven inmates to Carrizales from court in Brownsville and took the first five out for reintroduction to the jail and left two young inmates in the van.

According to a message from a witness, the van was turned off, no AC on, the doors were locked, and the windows were all up. When prisoners are transported, they already have have belly chain (also known as "waist chain," or "Martin chain") which is a physical restraint worn by prisoners consisting of a chain around the waist, to which the prisoner's hands are chained or cuffed. In Cameron County, the ankles are also connected by means of longer chain.

Well, the transport guys apparently took a longer time than they expected with the five prisoners and forgot about the other two in the hot van. On March 11 the high was 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and in a closed van, it was probably higher.

On of the inmates had an anxiety attack and started going into convulsions, the sources said, and the other started to try to kick out the windows of the van. Were it not for the fact that one of the Carrizales corrections officers went outside to have a cigarette and saw the commotion in the van as the two young inmates struggled to escape the closed vehicle, the developing tragedy might not have been averted.

The timing of the latest transport foible could not have come at a worse time for Lucio.

He faced two challengers this March 3 Democratic Primary and is in the July 14 a runoff with former Cameron County District Clerk Eric Garza which was delayed from May 23 because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Lucio, who was first elected in 1997 and then again in 2006, has served as sheriff for nearly 17 years, following his 35-year stint with the Harlingen Police Department. Whoever emerges as the winner will face Republican candidate John Chambers in the general election in November.