The inmate’s injury was caused by the excessive force applied by the officers, in combination with the torque produced by using the forearm as a lever.
In June of 2017, an inmate at the Multnomah County Detention Center was charged with five counts of assault of a Federal Officer as a result of interactions with two deputy correctional officers. The inmate was evaluated by paramedics and transported to the hospital for injuries sustained during the events, including a broken arm. Because the incident involved federal officers, the inmate faced five counts of impeding a federal officer, two of which carried a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
The inmate and the correctional officers reported conflicting accounts of the incident. The inmate stated that he believed his arm was broken while in a cell in the solitary disciplinary unit, when deputy officers forcefully pushed him to the ground and painfully twisted his arm behind his back. The deputies indicated that they were instead, attempting to handcuff the inmate in the general population cellblock, in advance of leading him to the solitary disciplinary unit, and that while they heard a popping sound, there was no indication of injury.
Hayes + Associates was retained by Portland criminal defense Attorney Tiffany A. Harris, on behalf of the inmate defendant, to perform a biomechanical analysis of the mechanism of injury, and opine on which of the two scenarios fit with the facts of the case and the fracture the inmate suffered.
H+A analysis concluded that the inmate’s injuries were not sustained in the general population cell, but in the solitary disciplinary unit, when the two correctional officers threw him down to the mattress on the floor, then twisted his arm behind his back, and pinned his elbow and pulled on his hand toward the ceiling, with sufficient force to create the twisting fracture shown above. The humeral fracture that resulted was consistent with fractures produced in automobile collisions and high impact sports. In this instance, injury was caused by the excessive force applied by the officers, in combination with the torque produced by using the forearm as a lever.
Following the H+A report, the charges against for impeding federal officers were dropped, and the government recommended the inmate be granted “time served” — a reduction in his sentence.
Hayes+Associates, Inc. (https://www.hayesassoc.com) is an expert witness and consulting firm based in Corvallis, OR. The company brings more than 75 years of collective experience in academic research, university teaching and forensic testimony to practice areas that include vehicle collisions, premises safety, slips and falls, products liability, worker safety, sports and recreation, patent litigation and criminal matters.