Tulsa ex-jailer charged after inmate brawl

TULSA — A misdemeanor charge was filed Thursday against a former Tulsa Jail detention officer who allegedly ignored an inmate brawl.

Surveillance video from July 9 released by the sheriff’s office depicts the officer, identified by officials as Marc Moncrief, allowing the melee to play out in the recreation yard of a pod. Officials say he failed to try to break it up or call for help.

The now-terminated employee can be seen on the video apparently watching from nearby at several points throughout the disturbance but not acting to quell it. In fact, sheriff’s office officials said Moncrief can be seen apparently flashing a gang sign as the disarray unfolds.

Moncrief, 28, is charged with a misdemeanor count of willfully neglecting to perform the duty of a public officer. The charge alleges he failed to prevent inmates from carrying out an assault.

Moncrief was employed by the sheriff’s office for 10 months.

The video also shows the afternoon melee reorganizing to a much lesser degree once inmates presumably realized reinforcements were not en route and the detention officer had walked away to perform a security check of cells.

Sheriff’s office spokesman Justin Green said jail personnel never entered the pod to break up the melee because Moncrief failed to call for assistance.

“That detention officer did not call a code, therefore the rest of the jail staff was not aware there was a fight until we received a grievance from an inmate who was involved,” Green said.

“It was taken seriously,” he said.

Although the jail’s control center can pull up any video feed at any time, it can’t monitor all feeds at all times, Green said.

The sheriff’s office said dozens of inmates were involved but no serious injuries were reported as a result of the fight. However, in the video inmates can be seen cleaning up blood in the yard after the fight simmers down.

In a termination letter to Moncrief, Sheriff Vic Regalado stated that his firing was based on documentation of alleged criminal activity.

Moncrief’s title was Detention Officer II, and he made $29,000 a year, according to a Tulsa World salary database. His hire date was Sept. 1, 2015.

About eight minutes of disarray is captured from two camera angles, showing the detention officer observing the melee, moving and returning to watch while apparently not taking action to halt it. At one point he enters the yard, the inmates begin to disperse and he returns to his seat at the guard station.

However, he gets up and then walks around the upper and lower levels of the pod performing a perimeter check of the cells, allowing the fight to regroup into a skirmish.

More than a dozen inmates go into the yard within the video’s first minute to join the half dozen or more who were already there as the fight broke out.

The detention officer enters the yard near the end of that first minute, and two dozen inmates then begin to file back into the main pod area.