Detention Deputy Suspended

By KEITH MORELLI The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 4, 2007

TAMPA - A Hillsborough County sheriff's detention deputy was handed a 20-day suspension and ordered to undergo ethics training after he was found to have used excessive force on an inmate and then lied about it in his report.

Clifton Williams, 26, who has been with the sheriff's office since July 2002, was found guilty and sanctioned in an internal affairs report that was finalized last month, said Sgt. Dan Tewmey, a supervisor in the internal affairs division.

He said Williams confronted inmate Christopher Trott, then 18, in the Falkenburg Road Jail on Oct. 26. Trott refused to do as he was told, and Williams ordered him to sit on his bunk. The inmate again refused, and Williams physically forced the inmate to sit down.

The confrontation was captured on videotape, which sparked the investigation by jail administrators.

Trott was not injured, Tewmey said.

In making reports about the incident, Williams included false statements, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. In subsequent interviews, he admitted to his actions and to lying on the documents.

Williams has no other disciplinary reports in his file, Tewmey said.

The report came to light a day after another deputy was suspended on charges he used excessive force in detaining a suspected speeder near University Community Hospital on Fletcher Avenue in November.

That incident also was captured by a video camera, this one mounted on the dashboard of Deputy Kevin Stabins' patrol car. The video shows him throwing the woman onto the trunk of her car in an attempt to handcuff her after he clocked her speeding.

The woman said she was in a rush to get to the hospital because her father was in the emergency room being treated for a heart attack.

Stabins should have been more compassionate, a board of review found, and it suspended the deputy for five days.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 865-1504 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.