Wichita KS jailer gets probation for beating loud inmate who wanted phone call, nurse
An ex-detention deputy who repeatedly punched a Sedgwick County Jail inmate in April pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of misdemeanor battery.
Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana immediately sentenced Kymbal Britt, 19, to six months in jail then suspended that sentence and placed him on probation for one year, court records say.
Among the conditions of probation Britt must follow are to obey all laws, stay in Kansas unless the court gives him permission to leave, work a full-time job or prove he’s searching for one, avoid drugs and alcohol and submit to random breath, blood and urine testing.
He’s also forbidden from having any contact with the victim in the case, according to a journal entry regarding probation, parole or suspension of sentence.
Britt’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday afternoon. The plea came ahead of Britt’s bench trial, set for Tuesday.
The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office fired Britt, a Wichita resident, on April 22, the same day he was caught punching an inmate in the head and body at least five times. He had marked his one-year anniversary working for the jail a few days before that.
Authorities previously said that before the attack the inmate had been banging on the doors of a holding cell and “yelling for an extended period,” asking to use the phone and see a nurse because he felt sick. When Britt tried to move him to a different location to prevent damage to the cell, the inmate “sat down on a bench and placed his hands towards his chest in a passive resistant manner,” the sheriff’s office has said. Britt started punching him after that.
The inmate suffered several blows to his head and body — including when he was on the floor — but did not strike back or try to defend himself, a probable cause affidavit released by the court earlier this summer says.
Britt explained his actions to investigators by saying he was trying to make the inmate comply and prevent any potential resistance or retaliation, although he admitted that all but the first punch “were unreasonable,” the affidavit says. He told the investigator he thought the first strike was justified.
Some of Britt’s co-workers, however, described Britt as “amped up,” “antagonizing” the inmate and looking for a fight leading up to the beating.
Wichita jailer was ‘amped up,’ antagonized loud inmate before beating, affidavit says
Sedgwick County Jail deputy accused of punching inmate charged with misdemeanor battery
