On December 28, 2001, there was an incident that occurred that has changed my life forever. On this Friday afternoon, I was assigned to a float position in the jail. A float position simply means that you are there to help other deputies when you are needed. My shift began at two o'clock that day. At three o'clock, I received a signal 7 on my radio. A signal 7 is a fight between inmates. The call came from the 4 floor house, which is a felony floor in this facility. The fourth floor holds the most dangerous and violent criminals. This is where the rapists, murderers, and armed robbers are housed. When we arrived at the scene, the fight had already been broken up and the inmates were going back to their cells. After the inmates were locked down in their cells is when we had learned that an inmate had assaulted a female deputy.

The female deputy had walked around the pod to point out which inmate had stuck her. It was in p cell, which is where the deputy pointed out Tawhon Easterly as the inmate who struck her. At this point, my supervisor instructed me to open inmate Easterly's cell door. Two other deputies went into inmate Easterly's cell and escorted him downstairs. These two deputies, along with 5 other deputies, and the corporal who was my supervisor took the inmate into the gym. I did not go into the gym because, at the time, I did not believe that inmate Easterly was the one who struck the female deputy. I learned later that the deputies had the inmate in the gym, and they were beating him.