Schnecksville-area jail guard resigns

A Schnecksville-area man, suspended as a Carbon County corrections officer, faces criminal charges after an incident in which a restrained prisoner was punched, choked and peppersprayed.

Gerard A. Babb Jr., 31, submitted his resignation Tuesday — the day before the charges were filed.

Carbon County commissioners acknowledged the resignation but did not accept or approve it Thursday as part of the weekly personnel report.

Babb, another corrections officer and the warden, Tim Fritz, have been suspended with pay since March 17 for a probe into an undisclosed incident at the county prison in Nesquehoning.

According to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday:

On March 12, a county detective learned about an incident at the prison that happened Feb. 7 and viewed surveillance footage involving the officer and the inmate.

The footage showed the inmate strapped into a restraint chair in a multipurpose room at the prison, and he was trying to move or wiggle toward a bunk bed. He was successful and grabbed it, pulling on it.

Babb and another officer entered the room and broke the resisting inmate’s grip. The second officer began moving the chair with the inmate to the middle of the room when Babb punched the inmate in the face twice and then choked him.

Babb left the room and returned less than a minute later shaking a can of pepper spray, which he sprayed in the inmate’s face.

The detective interviewed the inmate, who confirmed the incident and said that the only thing he did toward Babb was attempt to “head-butt” him.

Babb is charged with two counts of simple assault, official oppression, reckless endangerment and harassment.