ACLU SAYS BEATING BY COUNTY DEPUTIES PART OF LARGER PROBLEM

A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union says a federal investigation into the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department has been too long in coming. The FBI announced Friday it would conduct a civil rights investigation into the televised beating of a man as he was taken into custody. Thursday, ACLU attorney Adrienna Wong said issues in the county may well be much broader than Thursday’s incident. She said, “Community organizations have asked for federal authorities to step into San Bernardino County for some time. The ACLU has received numerous complaints from county residents regarding excessive use of force by sheriff’s deputies, which it says indicates problems may be institutional rather than exceptional.” the Justice Department is already conducting an investigation into allegations of inmate abuse by deputies at the Sheriff’s West Valley Detention Center. Wong said the Sheriff’s Department’s use of tasers is particularly concerning. Deputies shoot members of the public with tasers hundreds of times each year, with nearly half of those electric shocks resulting in injuries, Wong said. And on four occasions since 2008, individuals have died after sheriff’s deputies tased them several times —even though federal guidelines on taser use warn that “repeated or multiple applications may increase risk of death,” she added. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Department in March seeking a judge’s order to force the county law enforcement agency to produce records on its taser gun policies and practices.