Riley said he was able to regain control and remove the handcuffs from the outside of the cell. In the most recent of those incidents, Riley’s account was very similar to how he described what proceeded Howell’s death.Īfter transporting an inmate back to his cell May 6, Riley wrote, the man “violently pulled away towards the rear of his cell” while handcuffed and connected to a tether. The tether device Riley used on Howell also factored into two other instances in which FDC inspectors found he’d broken policy. He said the officer outside the cell “was so stunned at the incident he jumped up.” “Officer Riley push/throw inmate in room 2103 in the cell, I then heard a loud boom like a crash,” he wrote. The other wrote “emergency” three times, in all capital letters, at the top of his complaint he signed it, “Inmate lives matter.” “The inmate was under hand restraints, once was inside his cell, Officer Gonzalez try to lock door but Officer Riley open the door and violently assaulted inmate.” “Please pay attention, … I witness an officer commit a crime, Officer Riley assaulted an inmate in cell,” one wrote. Two filed complaints to the warden after the incident. “Everybody was watching because they know how the officer is,” one said, explaining that Riley was known to have a “very, very bad temper.” “If the inmate continues to refuse to uncuff, the next step would be to call the sergeant,” Ora told investigators.įour inmates who were near Howell’s cell during the incident all said they saw Riley push Howell into his cell and then heard a loud noise. Darius Ora said officers are supposed to “close the cell door, open the cell door flap and again request the inmate to uncuff,” the report said. Two corrections supervisors told FDLE that the officers did not respond appropriately when Howell refused to take his handcuffs off. His breathing was labored and he wasn’t talking or moving, Atkinson said.Ĭrime scene photos show three large blood stains on two adjacent walls, one spreading onto the floor. Brent Atkinson said he arrived to find Howell lying on his side in “ recovery position,” with his hands and legs cuffed. Video showed Valentine and Gonzalez called out an emergency 106 seconds after Riley first pushed Howell into his cell. In interviews, one officer called Riley’s use of force against Howell a “normal take-down.” “Neither seemed to be concerned for CO Riley inside the cell, due to them both never entering into the cell even when believed CO Riley was pulled back into the cell by Howell,” the FDLE report said. Neither explained how Howell ended up with such severe injuries. Valentine and Gonzalez, whose written reports matched Riley’s word-for-word, also said that Howell refused to take off his handcuffs and then pulled away from Riley. “His force and mine behind it, we just went to the wall.”Ī photo of the tether used by former Florida Corrections Officer Michael Riley, from evidence in the murder case against him. “I go to shut the door, pull the tether through the and that’s when he pulls me in,” Riley said during his interview with FDLE. But before he could, he said, Howell backed up, yanking the tether. Riley said Howell refused to cooperate with having his handcuffs removed, so Riley connected a “tether” - a cord he had purchased himself - to the cuffs, apparently intending to use it to pull the prisoner’s hands though an opening on the cell door. No cameras recorded what occurred inside. Valentine and Gonzalez stayed outside the cell. Video from the wing shows Riley pushing Howell through the threshold of the cell door, then following him inside the cell - something multiple officers including Riley told FDLE was not the typical protocol. Howell’s June 18 killing happened after Riley and officers Jose Valentine and Kevin Gonzalez walked him back to his two-man cell in the confinement wing, according to FDLE’s investigation. This evidence photo shows Christopher Howell’s bloody cell after authorities say Officer Michael Riley fatally injured him.
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