Inmates say officers threw M-80 firecracker into cell

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2003 | 10:52 a.m.

A citizen review panel has told Metro Police that the department needs to fully investigate two inmates' allegations that their hearing was damaged when corrections officers exploded a large firecracker in their jail cell.

"It appears that a firecracker did explode in the jail, and we're trying to figure out the who, when, where and why," Deputy Chief Mike Ault, supervisor of Metro's internal affairs bureau, said this morning.

A Citizen Review Board screening panel, which independently investigates complaints about Metro officers, "felt the allegations were serious enough to warrant further investigation," Andrea Beckman, executive director of the Citizen Review Board, said.

"If they are, in fact, true, then something needs to happen," she said.

Inmates Earl Atchley and Erick Watson filed separate complaints against Clark County Detention Center Officers Alan Hirjak, 32, and Christopher Brinkley, 29, after the alleged incident on June 30.

The inmates reported that at about 11:30 that night, "the officers allegedly threw explosive devices, Fourth-of-July-type devices, into (their) jail cell," Beckman said.

There was just one explosive, and the inmates claimed it was an M-80, Ault said. Both claim they've had hearing problems since the incident.

It's not clear what the officers' intentions were, Ault said.

"It would make it more serious if they intended to do bodily harm than if they were attempting some misguided attempt at humor," he said.

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said: "Metro seems not to understand the serious of this misbehavior. Officials suggest this will not be treated as a major infraction, but the alleged actions are serious enough that they require a referral to the district attorney's office to determine if criminal prosecution is appropriate."

Peck pointed out that possessing an M-80 is illegal, and that "any inmate who engaged in this type of behavior would be severly disciplined."

"We certainly hope Metro doesn't believe that their own officers should be held to lower standards of conduct than the prisoners they are guarding," he said.

The two inmates in this case are accusing the officers of endangering the welfare of prisoners, according to Citizen Review Board records.

Hirjak, who has been with the department for 9 1/2 years, and Brinkley, who has been with the department for one year, are still on duty at the jail, Ault said. Their supervisors and labor relations officials will decide whether to take them off the job and what discipline, if any, would be appropriate.

Last week the panel referred the inmates' complaints to Metro's Internal Affairs Bureau and asked authorities to look into the allegations. The panel also requested any witness statements or incident reports. The findings of the panel were made public Wednesday.

Within 30 days, internal affairs is expected to turn its findings over to the screening panel.

The panel "will look at it again and decide if they agree or disagree with the findings," Beckman said. If not, the panel will send the case back to internal affairs.

Atchley is now serving a 12- to 30-month sentence for burglary at Nevada State Prison and Watson is scheduled to be sentenced today on multiple robbery counts.

The fireworks case is the latest in a series of misconduct allegations lodged against Metro corrections officers within the past several months.

In July, Metro's internal affairs bureau ruled that corrections officer David Devaney had violated conduct rules while off-duty by forging his girlfriend's signature on her paychecks after she died.

Internal affairs cleared Devaney initially, but reopened the case at the urging of the Citizen Review Board. That case was only the second time since the board was created in 2000 that Metro has reversed its findings as a result of board scrutiny.

In June, three Muslim inmates filed complaints against jail officials in alleging that the jail didn't provide religious services for the inmates on Fridays, their day of group prayer.

The situation was resolved about two weeks after the complaint was filed when the jail found a volunteer to perform the services. The panel also requested a written statement from the jail that all religions are being afforded reasonable accommodations to practice their faith.

Metro paid $500,000 last month to the father of a French citizen who died in the jail after a violent struggle with corrections officers two years ago. The case made international headlines.

In March, Beckman began keeping track of how many misconduct allegations were filed against corrections officers versus regular police officers because "we started seeing a possible pattern," she said. "We started getting more complaints against CCDC."

As of Wednesday, there had been 19 complaints have been filed against CCDC corrections officers, and 17 against Metro officers this year.