Stockton Man Claims He Was Brutally Beaten By County Corrections Officers In Racist Attack
STOCKTON (CBS13) — A Stockton man claims he was brutally beaten in a racist attack by San Joaquin County Jail guards.
It happened Sunday after Jacob Servin was arrested for suspicion of public intoxication. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office says Servin was combative after his arrest. Inside the county jail, Servin said he thought he may die at the hands of three correctional officers.
The sheriff says he was drunk and violent, but he walked out looking like a different person.
"For me to scream for my life, they were trying to kill me," he said.
Servin says his entire body is broken and bruised. On Sunday, he didn't know if he would survive what he calls, a "violent, racist attack," at the hands of three correctional officers.
Jacob Servin's booking photo (credit: San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office) and after the reported attack (credit: Jacob Servin)
"Racist hate crimes, I see it all the time, and I never understood what they felt, until now," Servin said.
The sheriff's office says while at the county jail, Servin started fighting with the officers.
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"We escorted Mr. Servin over to the cell, and when he was placed into the cell, they started to remove the handcuffs. When they took one handcuff off, the fight was on," said Sheriff Patrick Withrow, the San Joaquin County Sheriff.
The sheriff says Servin grabbed a female officer, reached for an officer's equipment, kicked an officer in the chest, and tried to bite staff. But Servin denies the claims that he was violent and said, "that did not happen."
CBS13 asked when is it considered "okay" for corrections officers to inflict physical force on a combative person in custody. The sheriff says their goal is never to hurt anybody, but they do use physical force.
"The only time we use physical force, is to resist any type of aggression we're getting from them," said Withrow.
Servin says what happened to him goes beyond standard operating procedure and he wants to share his story.
"I'm not doing this for myself, I'm doing this for anybody in our country that's ever been affected by this kind of racist abuse," he said.
Servin says he is planning on filing a lawsuit against the officers.
The sheriff says there is an open investigation into what happened, including whether Servin will face any additional charges. He says he's hoping to release jail surveillance video as quickly as possible so that everyone can see what happened behind these doors.