Inmates Made Up Story About Beating of Gabriel, Sheriff Says

A complaint alleging excessive force by deputies against an inmate in the County Jail in El Cajon has not been substantiated because the inmate, Orned (Chicken) Gabriel and several other inmates “deliberately contrived” their story for publicity, Sheriff John Duffy announced Tuesday morning.

But Gabriel, interviewed Tuesday night in the County Jail downtown, stood by his story that seven deputies handcuffed him and dropped him face-first to the floor, punched and kicked him, and then rammed him head-first into a jail door.

“I still feel the beating was severe,” he said. “I won’t change my story.”

Gabriel said he was interviewed last week by an FBI agent probing allegations of assaults by deputies. He said the agent told him the FBI has heard of eight deputies, not seven, who were involved in the alleged assault on him.

Gabriel also said the agent told him that the FBI has interviewed three deputies who witnessed the March 29 beating and were willing to testify on Gabriel’s behalf.

Duffy, in an extremely rare gesture, released a summary of his internal investigation into the allegations that deputies assaulted Gabriel, a martial-arts instructor.

“The investigation of this case revealed no evidence of facts to substantiate those allegations,” Duffy said.

The sheriff said Gabriel and other inmates admitted to sheriff’s internal investigators that they concocted the story to persuade The Times to publish the allegations.

“It’s an entirely false and fabricated story, contrived, deliberately, to lie to the press and thereby the public,” Duffy said. “The story was actually fabricated deliberately for the benefit of the Los Angeles Times reporter who published the story.”

Known as ‘Rambo Squad’

Gabriel and three other El Cajon inmates told The Times last month that Gabriel was beaten by seven deputies known as the “Rambo Squad.” Although Gabriel said he was unable to see who exactly was striking him, the other inmates verified that the punches and kicks were thrown by deputies.

A private physician who later examined Gabriel told The Times that the inmate’s head, shoulder, back and arm injuries were consistent with a beating.

Duffy released the internal summary during a lengthy press conference in which he also denied allegations since the Gabriel case in which other inmates have said deputies beat them in the county jails.

The sheriff and Lt. Dennis Kollar, head of the department’s Internal Affairs Unit, said they decided to take the unusual step of releasing the Internal Affairs summary because they believed it was The Times’ story about Gabriel that triggered the recent intense press attention to inmate beatings.

“We don’t do this very often, and don’t expect me to do this every time it comes up,” Duffy said. “But this was the kickoff of what has become a media event every single day.”

The five-page summary says that only limited force was used against Gabriel.

“Gabriel was placed against the wall with sufficient pressure across his shoulder to prevent him from turning away from the wall,” it says. “Standard compliance wristlocks (were placed) on both arms. Handcuffs were applied.

Rehearsal of Stories Alleged

“Gabriel was guided to the floor for deputy and inmate safety. Pressure was applied to Gabriel’s shoulder with a knee to maintain his position on the floor.”

Asked if he believed Gabriel was not seriously injured, Duffy said: “Yes. Of course I’m saying that.”

The summary says Gabriel and inmate Frank Smith “rehearsed what they would say to the press so that their accounts would coincide.”

Gabriel insisted that is untrue. “Not at all,” he said Tuesday night.

In fact, The Times interviewed Smith and two other inmate witnesses a day before interviewing Gabriel himself. None of the four inmates had advance knowledge of the reporter’s arrival at the jail.

The summary says Gabriel exercised with weights three times after the alleged beating, which would have been difficult had he been seriously injured. But Gabriel said Tuesday night that the exercises were actually done to strengthen his injured muscles.

Duffy also maintained that the private doctor did not positively link the beating to Gabriel’s injuries.

But he added that the Internal Affairs Unit did conclude that a deputy and his supervisors acted improperly by keeping for more than two weeks and not mailing an affidavit Gabriel had written to the American Civil Liberties Union. In the affidavit, Gabriel alleged other beatings by deputies.