A sheriff’s deputy in San Antonio, Texas, faces multiple charges after allegedly helping “facilitate” a jail attack that left an inmate hospitalized.
Deputy Jean Camacho-Morales, 33, is charged with aggravated assault, official oppression and tampering with a government record, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced at a press conference Tuesday night.
Camacho-Morales, who had been in the San Antonio-based sheriff’s department for nearly 6 years, is accused of allowing an attack at a county detention center that left an inmate with facial fractures and a damaged spine.
“This is exactly the type of misconduct that this country faces today,” Salazar said. “This is why, people like this is why, millions of dollars in property damage occurred in riots and civil unrest across the country, because of people like this.”
At least six people are believed to have been involved in the July 13 assault on the 44-year-old prisoner in a prison unit that Camacho-Morales was monitoring, according to Salazar. The attack was premeditated, and Camacho-Morales knew it was going to happen, the sheriff said.
The deputy was not involved in directly assaulting the prisoner, but “did not lift a finger to help him either,” Salazar said.
“He didn’t lift a finger to do his job. In fact, he did several things to facilitate that attack, ”said the sheriff.
Camacho-Morales claimed that the alarm sounded as soon as he learned of the assault, but Salazar said that is not true.
“He allowed this man to lie there in a pool of his own blood for several minutes,” the sheriff said, adding that the deputy named people who tried to help the victim as suspects in the attack.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office worked with the FBI to understand what happened and learned the truth after a “long” interview with the deputy, Salazar said.
Camacho-Morales received the termination paperwork Tuesday night and was later arrested and booked into the county jail, the sheriff said.
It is not clear if Camacho-Morales has representation. A phone call and email Wednesday morning to the Bexar County Deputy Sheriffs Association received no immediate response.