Working for the City of Tucson or Pima County does not absolve one of the law, seven current or former government employees have found out this week.
Five corrections officers from the Pima County Jail were arrested by Tucson police Wednesday — and booked into their own jail, mind you — on various aggravated assault charges after they allegedly viciously beating and kicking three adults and a juvenile outside the Buffet Bar on 9th Street.
The incident happened about 2 a.m. Wednesday, and according to police began when a man trying to unlock his bike in front of the Buffet was jumped by five men. After getting a friend from inside the bar to come help him retrieve the bike the same five men attacked those two until bar employees came out to break up the fight.
A few minutes later, though, the suspects returned and started kicking one of the victims while on the ground, police said. A resident from the area and his 17-year-old son left their house and went to the scene to try and break it up but instead both were attacked by one of the alleged assailants, police said.
None of the suspects were at the scene when police arrived, but later Wednesday police managed to arrest John Hyatt, 30; Steven Haglund, 26; Anthony Bonfiglio, 25; Matthew Garcia, 24; and Angel Castaneda, 23.
UPDATE: Haglund and Castaneda were fired Thursday by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, while 10 others — the other three arrestees and five more corrections officers who were apparently at the bar during the incident — have been put on administrative leave.
Earlier this week it was the City of Tucson’s employees (or former employees, rather) who came afoul of the law.
Two recently fired city transportation workers were indicted Monday on felony counts of fraud, theft and criminal enterprise stemming from their alleged misuse of city equipment to do private jobs. Kurt Hough, a former administrator for the streets division, and Bobby Palomarez, a former streets supervisor, are scheduled to be arraigned next week in Pima County Superior Court.
Hough and Palomarez were among five transportation employees who resigned or were fired earlier this month after a nearly year-long investigation by the city found numerous times when the employees did unauthorized work, including building a retaining wall for an electrician’s facility and paving the roads leading into a cemetery.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2012.
Love the fact that when corrections officers decide to bully free citizens, it doesn’t come as easily and consequence free as when they decide to bully on the job.
I hope they don’t just get a slap on the wrist and a little probation. They deserve some solid jail time in my opinion.
Their moms must be so proud..:/
Let’s face it, the job attracts a certain type of individual. Years ago, when I was a guest of the state, many of the guards were sporting more political ink than the skinheads. These are people whose only claim to good citizenship is the ability to obey without question.
Find an editor with English skills. The lack of decent grammar in this article is appalling.
This was a vicious unprovoked attack, not just some drunk guys looking to brawl. Can not wait till all the facts come to light. And that light is directly on these fucking psychos and to a lesser extent the institute that employs them.