State Highway Patrol to investigate altercation at Butler County jail

The state Highway Patrol will be asked to investigate an incident that occurred in late January at the Butler County jail, which has resulted in two employees being placed on administrative leave.

Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs and Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor will ask today for the Division of Drug and Crime Control to open a special investigation, according to Dobbs.

"It's a joint request between myself and the prosecutor," said Dobbs, who said he was only recently made aware of incident. "We think it's the right thing to do.

"I take the safety and security of every inmate very seriously and have great concern about the situation. I want to see every stone uncovered."

The names of the two individuals placed on administrative leave have not been released, but they are an investigator and a corrections officer, both of whom had been with the department for several years.

A 49-second video was posted to social media by a former corrections officer and appears to show the two individuals, along with two other employees, attempting to restrain a prisoner inside the jail.

One staff member appears to be attempting to restrain the prisoner's legs, while a second person attempts to restrain the man's hands. A third individual can be seen kicking the prisoner three times. As the second staff member appears to possibly begin cuffing the prisoner, he can be seen punching the individual at least once. A fourth person can be seen watching from the doorway before stepping into the holding area, but did not appear to have physical contact with the prisoner.

The apparent cellphone video was taken of surveillance video, which was shot from behind the staff members restraining the prisoner.

The decision to place two individuals on leave was based on the interactions of the staff members in the video, Dobbs said. All sheriff's office staff members have been receiving retraining since the video came to light, he said.

The sheriff's office attempted last week to obtain a more complete video of the incident, he said.

Dobbs said he believes the video posted to social media was edited and it was taken during a longer altercation that lasted several minutes. One of the sheriff's office employees received a broken finger earlier in the same incident, which has left lasting injuries, he said.

The individual who posted the video is a Wayne County resident who worked as a general corrections officer for the jail for approximately six months, Dobbs said. Case.net shows the individual, Jessie Allen, was charged after his firing in March with bringing contraband in to the jail.

"With me not being made aware of it when it happened as it should have been, I wasn't able to capture it on our (surveillance) system. After a given period, it overwrites itself like most surveillance systems," he said.

Dobbs said the video was shot in January, while Allen was under investigation but before he had been terminated.

"There were accusations of him bringing contraband into females. We couldn't initially substantiate and he was under suspicion," Dobbs said. "In March, a female inmate was taken to the hospital and tested positive for methamphetamine.

"When she was interviewed, she first wouldn't tell us how she obtained the meth and then told us that Jessie Allen had been bringing it in."

Allen was charged and pursuant to new Missouri bond rules was released pending further court dates, Dobbs said.