Chilling video of inmate beating released as Auburn Jail lawsuit settled for $1.4 million

555 Two years after abuse allegations at the Auburn Main Jail led to the firings of three officials and a revamp of how deputies use force against inmates, a federal judge in Sacramento gave his final approval Thursday to a $1.4 million class action settlement in the case. And, with the legal battles in the case finalized, comes the release of videos and photographs of the incidents that Placer County officials have fought to keep from public view. One of the videos, of a cell extraction on May 14, 2017, involving mentally ill inmate Beau Bangert, shows four Placer sheriff's officials rushing into Bangert's tiny suicide-watch cell, smashing him into a wall with a plastic body shield, then alternately punching and Tasing him before removing him from the cell. "Get on the ground," one yells at Bangert as he is grabbed and punched. "We're going to put you to sleep," another says moments before six other jailers rush toward the cell to aid in restraining Bangert. Minutes later, Bangert is wheeled back into the cell in a "safety chair" with a mesh bag - or "spit mask" - over his head. Officials remove the mask, then leave the limp Bangert staring face up from the chair with is face covered in blood. The video, released to The Sacramento Bee by Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin after a lengthy fight to get that and other videos unsealed, was one of the factors that led Placer County officials to agree to a class-action settlement last year that has led to claims of abuse from nearly 500 former inmates. Merin said the video depicts an "obviously mentally ill man acting out in an irrational way" who fell victim to deputies who "decided to end it in a very forceful, over-the-top way, inflicting serious injuries to Mr. Bangert." "They demonstrated total insensitivity and it was clearly an abusive gang attack on a defenseless individual," he said. "And it showed absence of training and malevolence on the part of the deputies who participated." Placer County Sheriff Devon Bell did not respond immediately to a message seeking comment Thursday. The case broke into the open May 31, 2017, with a news conference by Bell, the newly appointed sheriff, who became emotional as he announced an internal investigation had revealed video evidence of excessive force and cover-up attempts. Two deputies and a jail official were fired and faced charges of falsifying police reports and other counts, and Bell said jail operations would be revamped to ensure that no other instances of abuse occur. Despite that, the sheriff said the video evidence would not be released because of concerns by county lawyers, and attorneys insisted in court filings that the videos introduced into federal court filings as evidence in the class-action lawsuit should be destroyed.

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