FBI Starts 2nd Probe of O.C. Jail Brutality

The FBI has launched a criminal probe into whether sheriff’s deputies violated the civil rights of a diabetic man who contends he was beaten while an inmate in the Orange County Jail, federal authorities said Tuesday.

The investigation, which started at least several weeks ago, is the second claim of police brutality to warrant federal scrutiny of the Orange County jail system in the last six weeks.

The October 1999 incident is also the subject of a civil suit brought by John Kenneth Lolli, who contends he suffered two broken ribs when deputies allegedly beat him for requesting a snack to maintain his blood sugar level.

Michael Gennaco, who heads the civil rights section of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said investigators began examining the episode after concluding that the allegations would amount to criminal behavior if proven true.

Gennaco’s office last month launched a similar probe into claims that deputies beat an Orange County Jail inmate who died in custody in June 1998 after his arrest on a drunk driving warrant.

Sheriff’s officials said they were unaware of the latest FBI probe and declined to comment on Lolli’s allegations. But Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt insisted that the department does not tolerate mistreatment of inmates.

“We investigate or ask another agency to investigate every single incident that occurs [in the jails], and we welcome inquiries into our handling of any case,” Hewitt said in a written statement.

Lolli’s attorney, Jonathan Slipp, said he asked federal authorities to examine the case after reviewing a jailhouse videotape of a confrontation between Lolli and about a dozen deputies.

“He had a huge knot on his forehead. His scalp was cut. He lost hearing in one ear,” Slipp said. “All of this because he’s diabetic and asked for food.”

Lolli was arrested Oct. 6, 1999, in Brea on a warrant for failing to appear in court for a traffic violation and was booked into the Orange County Jail, according to Lolli’s lawsuit.

In jail, Lolli claimed he told county staff that he needed to eat because his blood sugar level was about to drop, according to a copy of the Huntington Beach police report of the incident that Slipp provided to The Times.

After several hours without food, he said he felt dizzy and again asked for a snack, the report said. Lolli told police that a deputy replied: “What . . . do you think this is, the Holiday Inn?”

After a brief exchange, Lolli alleged that four deputies pulled him from a booking cell, threw him to the floor and kicked and beat him. Lolli was taken to a cell and left there. He was released the next day, and his sister immediately drove him to Huntington Beach Hospital and Medical Center.

“He was in bad shape,” said his sister, Lauren Allee. “Most of the marks to his body were on the back of his body, which shows that he was not fighting with the deputies.”

A copy of a jailhouse videotape of the altercation shows grainy footage of deputies struggling with someone on the floor. It is unclear from the tape how much force the law enforcement officers used.

Reports written by three of the officers allege that Lolli was hostile toward deputies and resisted as they tried to handcuff him. The officers said they punched and pepper-sprayed Lolli as they tried to subdue him.

The latest federal probe comes as the county fights a flurry of claims alleging brutality inside the Orange County jails. Two weeks ago, prosecutors halted a grand jury investigation of an alleged beating by deputies, saying there was insufficient evidence to win a conviction in the case.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gennaco declined to tell what federal investigators have discovered so far.