In video, inmate able to raise arm

She says a jail deputy broke it in a later encounter, also taped.

By Rebecca Catalanello, Times Staff Writer
Published February 23, 2008

TAMPA - Charlana Irving stretches both arms straight above her head. She swings her arms and places them on her hips.

In four hours of video released by the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office late Friday and reviewed by the St. Petersburg Times, Irving, 27, shows no visible sign of pain prior to the incident in which she says a detention deputy broke her arm.

Irving has filed a notice of intent to sue the Sheriff's Office over the matter. But sheriff's officials earlier this week issued a statement saying it was "impossible to determine if this injury occurred prior to or after her contact with law enforcement."

Irving's was one of three recent allegations of jail abuse against Hillsborough deputies that spilled out after jail video showed a deputy dumping a quadriplegic from his wheelchair.

The new footage of Irving, taken at Orient Road Jail between 4:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., on May 5, shows her raising her arms over her head twice as deputies search her at 4:39 a.m.

At 7:30 a.m., the video shows detention Deputy Milton Fassett entering her holding cell and twisting her arm behind her back. After she is moved to another cell, the video shows Irving holding her arm. A later X-ray disclosed that it was broken.

In the minutes before the incident occurred, Irving stands at the glass door of the cell, tapping on the window and attempting to communicate with Fassett.

Fassett, meanwhile, gets in and out of his swivel chair outside Irving's cell. He appears to write on a piece of paper, show it to her, then tape it to a wall in front of her before finally going to her cell and confronting her.

Fassett has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Sheriff's Office. Sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway could not be reached late Friday to talk about the additional video footage. Prior footage shared with the St. Petersburg Times came from Irving's attorney, Luke Lirot.

Irving, arrested on a DUI charge, pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving.

[Last modified February 23, 2008, 00:48:19]