Seminole deputy is arrested in battery

A jail deputy in Seminole County has been arrested on battery charges, accused of pinning three juvenile inmates against their metal bunk beds during an incident in July. According to an investigative report, Deputy Deonte Bell, 25, had been asked by a fellow deputy for help dealing with with unruly inmates on July 12 at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility. The inmates — all between 16 and 17 years old, but who were in the facility because they had been charged as adults — had been “acting out,” including yelling and cursing, the other deputy said. The deputies decided to take their mattresses away as punishment — but Bell went further, entering the inmates’ cells and pinning them against the metal bed frames, the report said. His fellow deputy said Bell ordered the inmates to “stop messing around” while holding them against their bunks, records show. However, the inmates told a Sheriff ’s Office investigator that Bell was cursing and threatening them as he pinned them — telling one, “I will break your jaw,” the investigative report said. All three inmates said they wanted to press charges against Bell, records show. The teens were taken for medical treatment after complaining of scratches and bruises, the report said. In an interview with an investigator, Bell admitted pushing two of the teens, explaining he was trying to create space between himself and the inmates, who were not obeying commands, records show. He said pinned the third teen to his bed after the inmate “came towards him as if he was not going to stop,” the report shows. Bell faces three counts of misdemeanor battery, court records show. He has been removed from duty and placed on paid leave “pending further review,” the Sheriff ’s Office said in a statement.