A former deputy was arrested Monday tonight for assaulting an inmate. It's the latest in a string of arrests involving guards at the Santa Clara County jail.
By Lilian Kim
Monday, August 22, 2016 11:42PM
SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Another former deputy was arrested Monday tonight for assaulting an inmate. It's the latest in a string of arrests involving guards at the Santa Clara County jail.
Timmy Tri has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and assault under color of authority.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department says the incident dates back to 2013, when he was called by another deputy to help restrain a combative inmate.
During an apparent struggle, the department says Tri then kicked the inmate in the head and face two to three times.
The inmate suffered a broken cheekbone and cuts to his face.
According to a sheriff's department spokesman, the three year gap between the assault and the arrest was the result of having to follow up on its initial investigation.
"We submitted the case to the district attorney's office, the district attorney had additional questions and we resubmitted the case to the district attorney and got an arrest warrant and made the arrest tonight," explained Dept. Reginald Cooks, with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department.
Tri is just the latest Santa Clara County jail guard to be arrested. Three former deputies have been charged with last year's beating death of inmate Michael Tyree.
Two others have been charged with beating inmate Ruben Garcia, who suffered a broken jaw.
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Former Santa Clara inmate says he witnessed beating death of mentally ill inmate
A former inmate of the Santa Clara County jail says he witnessed the beating death of mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree. (KGO-TV )
by Katie Utehs
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- A former inmate of the Santa Clara County jail says he witnessed the beating death of mentally ill inmate Michael Tyree.
This was part of an ongoing hearing to determine if three jail guards will be tried for murder.
An attorney for an inmate at the Santa Clara County Jail spoke exclusively to ABC7 News about his client's alleged beating at the hands of two correctional deputies and about the lawsuit they will be filing.
The former inmate testified that he saw Michael Tyree on the floor of his cell following the beating and when one of the officers went to check on him he used his boot to nudge his head. This, as the inmate alleges the guards targeted and bullied mentally ill inmates.
The attorney for Michael Tyree's family recounts what witness Juan Perez testified in court.
"What he conveyed in his testimony was so intense. Meaning how mean Officer Lubrin treated the mentally ill inmates. It was just so mean that that itself was crazy," said Michale Tyree's attorney Paula Canny.
Perez says he witnessed the accused Santa Clara County jail guards. Rafael Rodriguez, Matthew Farris, and Jereh Lubrin enter inmate Tyree's cell the night of his death.
"To Michael Tyree's cell the boom, boom and Michael's cries for help and then just silence," Canny said.
Now, the correctional deputies face murder charges for Tyree's death and assault under the color of authority charges for the alleged beating of another inmate, Juan Villa, who's also mentally ill.
"He touched people's lives. He mattered," said Shannon Tyree, Michael Tyree's sister.
Shannon Tyree broke down in court as the inmate witness said Lubrin checked on Tyree who was on his cell floor following the beating, by nudging his head with his boot.
"We looked at his corpse yesterday. I looked at my brother and I thought that is a corpse. He is gone, but he was naked. He was covered in feces and vomit and that's public now. You know, those are the last images of my brother and the last thing this man did for him was kick his head," Shannon Tyree said.
She wants to share these photos of Michael Tyree as more upsetting details are expected to be released during the hearing.
Juan Villa is expected to testify Wednesday.