LAKE CITY, FL (WTXL) -- Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents have arrested two correctional officers for aggravated battery against an inmate.
Sgt. Christopher Michael Jernigan, 37, and Correctional Officer Donald Dwight Sims, Jr., 21, were both arrested Monday. "Effective today, May 5, 2015, the employment of Correctional Officer Sgt. Christopher Michael Jernigan and Correctional Officer Donald Dwight Sims has been terminated,” said Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Julie Jones.
According to the FDLE, Jernigan and Sims beat inmate Shurick Lewis who was being held at Columbia Correctional Institute.
Witnesses told investigators that after the assault Lewis was bleeding from his nose and mouth and his eye was swollen. He was taken to see a prison nurse and sent back to his cell.
Later that night, the inmate was unresponsive and taken to Shands hospital where he was treated for a broken nose and several facial fractures.
The FDLE claims that Sims told them that the inmate fell from his bunk while Jernigan said he used force only after the inmate lunged at him.
Investigators said that Jernigan instructed other inmates to clean up the blood, put a new mattress on the bunk and throw away bloody clothes.
Jernigan turned himself into the Columbia County Jail Monday and Sims was arrested, with assistance from the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office in Live Oak and transported to the Suwannee County Jail.
