A Northern Kentucky corrections officer said he slammed an inmate to the floor, leaving a large bloody gash on his head because the inmate had refused his orders to stop rummaging through his personal belongings.
Kenton County corrections officer David Nussbaum also claimed the inmate said “fuck you” to him and slapped his hand away.
But body cam footage of the incident released last week does not show inmate Steven Jordan slapping Nussbaum’s hand away.
Within the first eight seconds of the eight-and-a-half minute body cam footage, Nussbaum had Jordan on the ground.
After screaming “Ow!,” Jordan immediately asks the officer what he did wrong.
“What the fuck, man?” Jordan cries. “Ow! Ow! Ow! What the hell did I do?”
Jordan, still laying face-down, moves his head, revealing a growing pool of blood on the floor. Another officer handcuffs Jordan telling him to be quiet.
At one point in the video, Jordan tells Nussbaum that his actions were “a little obsessive. An officer responds with “not at all.”
When Jailer Terry Carl was asked if Nussbaum was on leave, he was unable to confirm or deny it, according to Cincinnati Enquirer.
Nussbaum stated that Jordan became aggressive and that is when he decided to wrap his arms around him and slam him to the floor.
Jordan’s mother, Pennie Tackett, believes that this was retaliation against her son because he complained about the officer the day before.
In Jordan’s complaint, he stated that Nussbaum was repetitively slamming on the brakes, causing inmates to bounce around while being transported from the courthouse to the jail – which is what is alleged to have killed Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
Officer Nussbaum employee records show that over the years, he has had issues.
Nussbaum was hired in 2008 at the Kenton County Detention Center and then later in 2011 was assigned to to the jail’s court team.
Nussbaum record shows that he has been reprimanded for being late, fist fighting another officer, arguing with another officer, interfering with an investigation into his brother, was arrested for driving while drunk, and failed to turn on his body camera to record another incident with inmates.
Jordon was originally charged with possession of methamphetamine and was in the middle of being released to a treatment program when the incident took place.
