Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Witness recalls altercation between jail guards, inmate
NORRISTOWN >> A witness to the alleged beating of an inmate by Montgomery County correctional officers told a jury he was “cringing” when he observed the altercation that developed when officers tried to remove the inmate’s bloodstained shirt.
“He fell to the ground. They were trying to subdue him, trying to get the shirt off, swinging on him, punching him,” Robert Grasty testified Friday for prosecutors as he recalled observing the alleged interaction correctional officers had with inmate Derrick Houlihan on Feb. 14, 2017.
“I was cringing at times. I didn’t want to be there,” added Grasty, who also was an inmate at the Lower Providence jail at the time and was assigned to a cleaning crew on the K-6 section of the jail where the alleged assault occurred.
First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. and co-prosecutor Kelly Lloyd argued to a jury that Houlihan did not fight back during the assault and that the “callous, cold-hearted” assault “served no legitimate correctional purpose.”
Grasty’s testimony came on the fourth day of the joint trial for Darrin Collins, 53, of Phoenixville, Chester County, a former lieutenant at the jail; Edwin Negron, 54, of Exton, Chester County, a former captain at the jail; and fellow correctional officers Alfred Gregory Jr., 34, of East Coventry, Chester County; Anthony Saxby, 32, of Upper Gwynedd; and Randall Sims, 42, of Norristown.
Grasty testified he never observed Houlihan assault the officers.
But under cross-examination by the lawyers representing the correctional officers, Grasty said Houlihan did resist the officers’ requests to remove his shirt — bloodstained from an earlier alleged assault — reportedly for sanitary purposes. Grasty agreed with defense lawyer Alfred Merlie, who represents Saxby, that the scuffle began when Houlihan refused to obey the command.
Under questioning by defense lawyer A. Charles Peruto, who represents Negron, Grasty recalled Houlihan uttering, “I’m not doing your job for you, you take it off,” when correctional officers ordered him to remove his shirt.
Grasty recalled overhearing Houlihan state, “I eat this (expletive) for breakfast,” during the altercation.
During the trial, defense lawyers characterized the correctional officers as being dedicated to their jobs and as men of good character who used “reasonable force under the circumstances” as they dealt with an unruly inmate.
The jury trial before Judge William R. Carpenter is expected to last about seven days.
Prosecutors alleged Houlihan, then 42 and in jail while awaiting trial on drug-related charges, initially was assaulted in his cell by correctional officers and taken to the medical unit for treatment of a laceration above his eye, an injury that led to Houlihan’s shirt being stained by blood.
Grasty testified the cleaning crew was ordered to clean Houlihan’s cell while Houlihan was at the medical ward.
“There was blood on the floor. We were told to clean up the cell. It was messed up bad, blood near the sink and right in front of the door,” Grasty recalled.
As the inmate cleaning crew was finishing, Grasty said he saw correctional officers escorting Houlihan back to the K-6 section toward his cell. Prosecutors alleged that’s when the second alleged beating of Houlihan commenced during the argument about the removal of the bloodstained shirt.
At the time of the alleged assaults, Houlihan was not wearing his prosthetic leg, prosecutors alleged.
Testimony revealed Houlihan suffered two broken ribs as well as cuts and abrasions to his arms and his natural leg during the second alleged assault.
Jurors viewed jailhouse video surveillance recordings of the second alleged beating.
The investigation began when an assistant warden was informed verbally by correctional officers that they used physical force on an inmate. That required the submission of incident reports as well as obtaining jailhouse video surveillance footage that was available, prosecutors said.
Testifying for prosecutors on Friday, Assistant Warden Mark Murray read to the jury the incident reports that were submitted by each of the correctional officers.
When an initial internal review found that some officers may have used excessive force on two prisoners, may have lied about their involvement and took steps to minimize or destroy available surveillance footage, county detectives were notified and a grand jury investigation was initiated.
Negron initially claimed to jail officials that Houlihan had been giving staff “problems” and had “acted up” and that force had to be used to return him to his cell. Neither Negron nor Collins fully disclosed the extent of force, according to the grand jury presentment.
Court papers indicate correctional officers may not have been aware that a new camera had been installed in the K-6 section and that it had been actively recording at the time of the assault of Houlihan.
When jailhouse officials reviewed the video footage they concluded that what they viewed did not match what correctional officers documented in their incident reports, according to court papers.
In the video footage of the second alleged assault Houlihan is seen “hopping on his one natural leg as he entered K-6 under escort by Saxby and Sims, according to court papers. Houlihan went to the floor face-down and there was no evidence on the video he was assaultive or otherwise combative at that point, the grand jury presentment alleged.
Later, Saxby, Sims and Gregory are observed punching and kicking Houlihan as he flailed on the floor in an apparent attempt to protect himself, authorities alleged. Several of the accused allegedly then “combined efforts to unleash a series of kicks, punches, and stomps onto various parts of Houlihan’s body, including his torso and chest,” according to court papers.
Authorites alleged Houlihan was “inexplicably denied the use of his prosthetic leg for approximately 12 hours” after the alleged assaults.