Beaten Man says Jailors to Blame
Beaten and unconscious, a Byram man says he lay helpless in a jail cell. And he says it all happened right here in Jackson.
Maryland Singleton says he went to the detention center in downtown Jackson without a scratch, but came out brutally beaten.
Afraid to leave home, and suffering from broken bones, Singleton says now he wants justice. "I really thought they were trying to kill me. I was screaming for them to please stop," said Singleton. Scars cover Singleton's head, scars he says he suffered in jail, at the hands of jailors. "I was handcuffed,...I couldn't protect myself at all," said Singleton.
Singleton was arrested early Friday morning, charged with driving under the influence (Hey dukbum... a new client). But he says a worse crime began when he got to jail. "I had a cell phone no one took from me in my front pocket of my coveralls an when I started to use it they shouted at me not to use the cell phone and one officer opened up the cage," said Singleton.
Singleton says the officer threw a punch, cracking his cheekbone. Defenseless in handcuffs, Singleton says the first blow was caught on surveillance tape in the jail. He says Saturday he and police investigators watched it together. "She said there was no reason for that man to hit you the way he did. There's no reason for you to be beat up the way you are."
When WLBT asked to see the tape, police said no. Singleton does not have a copy of the video. But Singleton says most of the beating was off-camera, when jailors dragged him, still in hand cuffs, to a dark cell. "I remember several blows, I mean my head was just going back and forth like a rag doll and I was eventually knocked unconsious," said Singleton.
Waking up in a pool of blood, still staining his undershirt in this home-video the next day, Singleton says he cried out but no one responded."There was a styrofoam cup in the room and I stuffed it in the toilet and I just started flushing it and I flooded the whole jail cell and that made them come back there and they finally saw me."
Singleton was taken to UMC, where he was diagnosed with a broken cheek, black eye, bruised ear, and a cut forehead needing ten stitches. Records show he got to the hospital at 3:30 in the morning. "Their counter footage said they started beating me about 1:50 a.m," said Singleton.
But the wait for healing continues, as Singleton faces months of recovery and plastic surgery. "I just want to know why, why did I have to be beat," said Singleton.
Singleton plans to sue, but says he is not out for revenge, just medical costs and an explanation. "I just don't want this to happen again to anyone. I don't want anyone to be hurt anymore."
Police would not comment on the case except to say Singelton has filed a complaint and the internal affairs division of JPD is conducting an investigation into the incident.
