Anna Caplan
The potential charges are unrelated, but they share one nexus:
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All three of the indicted worked in the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.
The department announced three of its employees — a sergeant and two detention officers —Â were indicted on assault charges for separate incidents.
“We investigate cases on a case-by-case basis. When we believe they warrant presenting to a grand jury we do so, and the grand jury makes a decision whether a crime was committed, and that’s what they did in these cases,” Natasha Sinclair, civil rights division chief with the Harris County DA’s Office, said in an interview with Click2Houston.com.
One of the detention officers was terminated by the office, and the other two are currently on administrative leave.
The men include Sgt. Marco Carrizales, 37, indicted by a grand jury for aggravated assault by a public servant after authorities said he broke a man’s eye socket in an October 2015 pursuit, where he chased the man after he ran a four-way stop sign.
Carrizales faces a first-degree felony.
Harris County Jailer Dylan Goddard, 24, was indicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection to a May 2016 incident, in which he stands accused of beating a handcuffed inmate, slamming his head to the ground.
The inmate required seven staples.
Michael Holley, 31, no longer works in the sheriff’s office, but he faces two misdemeanor charges of assault-bodily injury during incidents occuring in the 1200 Baker Street jail in December 2016.
He allegedly punched one inmate in the face and slammed another into a wall, respectively.
“We investigate all crimes of excessive force against any citizen in Harris County. We know that there are good cops out there. We 100 percent support them. This is not a message or indictment against police,” Sinclair said further in the interview.
This is a developing story.
