Suit alleges guard beat up prisoner; Jail officials deny man was abused
By Bill Murphy
A Harris County jail guard beat an inmate so severely, he was paralyzed for a year before dying last week, according to a lawsuit filed by the inmate's family.

Sheriff's deputy Floyd M. Garner Jr. used unreasonable force when he knocked Leroy Baker to the ground and kneed him in the back of the neck several times, said a state district court suit brought by Baker's family.

It alleges severe beatings by jail guards are common and appear to go unpunished.

The family lawyer, John Tavormina, will ask a judge to enjoin guards from administering beatings and require the jail to take measures to prevent them.

Garner beat Baker "without provocation or instigation" the suit says. "When Mr. Baker cried out due to pain and fear, he was kicked and beaten some more."

Sheriff's Major Mark Kellar said Garner did not beat Baker, but forced him to the floor because he was "belligerent" when he was brought to the jail June 20, 1999.

"They kind of fell to the floor and there was no brutality", Kellar said. "We have several witnesses who say so."

Houston police arrested Baker on an assault charge after a dispute with a clerk at a convenience store on West Montgomery on June 19.

He was transferred to the County jail the next day.

The blows to Baker's neck damaged his spinal cord and left him a quadriplegic, the suit alleges.

Baker, 40, of 6407 Antoine, died in Ben Taub Hospital on June 8, allegedly from injuries suffered in the beating and infections stemming from massive bedsores he developed.

The FBI investigated and turned over its information to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., Tavormina said.

Frank Agraz, FBI spokesman in Houston, said the agency probe is continuing.

Tavormina said that from April to September 1999, other jail prisoners had to be hospitalized after the guards beat them in the intake center.

Kellar said guards don't use excessive force and are punished if they do. Some prisoners coming into intake are drunk or high on drugs, he said, and they force guards into physically subduing them.

Garner's deposition said he had no idea Baker was injured when he forced him to the floor. He said he tried to raise Baker but decided against doing so.

"You set him back down?" Tavormina asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Nice and gentle like a little baby?"

"Yes, sir."

Kellar said Baker may have suffered the injury before arriving at the intake center.

Tavormina said Baker had numerous convictions for assault, theft, drug delivery and other crimes—but he didn't deserve the beating he was given.