Ex-prison guard accused in beating is arrested in S. Florida
A former prison guard accused of viciously beating a prisoner in New York, concocting a cover-up story and manufacturing evidence to blame the victim for the unprovoked attack, was arrested this week in Broward County and jailed overnight.
Federal prosecutors say Carson Morris, 31, of Coconut Creek, was one of five former prison guards involved in the beating and who tried to obstruct the subsequent criminal investigation.
Authorities said Morris initiated the November 2013 beating, which left prisoner Kevin Moore, then aged 54, with life-threatening injuries, including five fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and facial fractures.
Some of the man’s dreadlocks were ripped out during the attack and one of the guards said he wanted to keep them as a “trophy” or “souvenir” for his motorcycle, investigators said.
Morris was arrested at his Coconut Creek apartment on Wednesday and locked up overnight in the Broward County main jail. He was released Thursday on $300,000 bond after a hearing in federal court in Fort Lauderdale and must show up next week in federal court in White Plains, N.Y. He has not yet indicated if he will fight the charges.
Morris, handcuffed, shackled and dressed in dark blue jail scrubs, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer that he moved to Broward County about seven months ago. He said he has been earning about $4,000 a month as a salesman at a BMW dealership in South Florida.
Federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment Wednesday charging Morris and two other former guards, then-Sgt. Kathy Scott and George Santiago Jr. with four criminal charges, including conspiring to violate the prisoner’s civil right and falsifying
records.
Moore, the prisoner, was attacked by the guards Nov. 12, 2013, at Downstate Correctional Facility in Fishkill while he was being transferred toNewYork City for a court hearing, investigators said. The prison is in Dutchess County, 90 minutes north of Manhattan.
Prosecutors said Moore was severely beaten after merely questioning why he was being placed in a mental health unit overnight.
Morris used his wooden baton and struck the first blow, prosecutors said, and the guards beat Moore, punched him repeatedly in the face and ribs, ripped out his hair and struck him in the groin, according to court records.
The five guards who participated in the beating fabricated a story, mopped up the blood, filed false reports and injured one of the guards so they could claim the prisoner attacked them,
prosecutors said.
“Santiago struck one of the correction officers, who had been on the scene, on the back with a baton, causing injury marks to make it appear as if he had been attackedbyMoore. Morris further applied friction with his hands to the injury marks in order to make the injury appear more serious,” according to the indictment.
Morris also lied to prosecutors later and was recorded urging other guards to lie, prosecutors said.
Moore was so badly injured that officialswhowere transferring him to Rikers Island refused to accept him until his injuries were documented, investigators said. Hewas hospitalized for 17 days.
Two other former guards, AndrewLowery and Donald Cosman, previously pleaded guilty to the same four federal charges the others face, according to court records that were also unsealed this week. They are cooperating with prosecutors, authorities said.
Scott and Santiago were fired and Morris was suspended for 10 months, according to state records. It was unclear when Morris left his prison job.