Eric Ivey, a former warden of the Cuyahoga County Jail who was later demoted to associate warden, was indicted on falsification charges and tampering with evidence.
The tampering charge Ivey faces is a third-degree felony while the falsification charge is a first-degree misdemeanor.
Ivey allegedly gave orders to a subordinate corrections officer to shut off his body camera during an “emergency incident” on August 27, 2019.
That incident involved the death 47-year-old Joseph Arquillo, who allegedly died of an overdose from heroine, fentanyl, Valium and cocaine, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner claimed.
However, it’s possible those drugs were placed into his system unwillingly.
Or why do the cameras need to be off?
Ivey also allegedly lied to the investigators earlier this week when he was interviewed, according to News5Cleveland.
He told detectives that he ordered the body cameras be turned off because he was trying to protect Arquillo’s medical privacy.
However, “his true purpose was to prevent the evidence from being used in an official proceeding,” the indictment states.
This is nothing new: people dying under Ivey’s watch, that is.
Ivy, 53, was also the subject of a U.S. Marshals Service report as someone who facilitated civil rights violations of inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail where eight inmates died in 2018.
In addition to his recent arrest, two other corrections officers have also been indicted.
John Wilson was charged with interfering with civil rights, unlawful restraint and felonious assault.
[Wilson] “allegedly struck an inmate repeatedly in his head, knocking out his teeth and causing another tooth to be fully lodged into the inmate’s nasal cavity, resulting in surgery and facial reconstruction.”
[Wilson] “allegedly refused to permit a nurse to care for the inmate while the inmate sat in a restraint chair with a broken nose and broken teeth,’ authorities said.
Jason Jozwiak was charged with interfering with civil rights and falsification, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
In April five other Cuyahoga County Jail employees were indicted on various charges.
One corrections officer was indicted related to the beating death of Arquillo.
Another two indictments came down on officers who beat an inmate strapped in a restraint chair, then left him alone for hours with a concussion.
