Passaic County Jail guard admits role in beating of inmate over urine splash
One of three Passaic County correctional officers accused in the 2021 assault of a pretrial detainee pleaded guilty Thursday, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Lorenzo Bowden, 39, was charged in federal court in Newark with conspiracy to obstruct justice. He admitted that he helped take the prisoner to an area of the Passaic County Jail with no video cameras and "stood by while other officers repeatedly hit and assaulted the handcuffed detainee, who posed no threat," Sellinger said.
According to court documents, Sgts. Jose Gonzalez and Donald Vinales assaulted the detainee at a so-called "blind spot" of the jail in January 2021, knocking him to the ground and striking him multiple times. The assault came a day after the inmate squirted a mixture containing urine onto a correctional officer.
In April 2022, the three defendants, after receiving federal grand jury subpoenas, held a meeting and agreed not to cooperate with the investigation. During an October 2022 interview with investigators, Bowden falsely claimed the victim was not assaulted and that no meeting among those who participated in or witnessed the incident had taken place.
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Bowden later admitted he did not intervene to stop the assault of the detainee, who was taken to a local hospital the day after the incident. In January, the FBI arrested all three officers involved in the assault.
"There are methods to hold accountable suspected criminals who act out while in custody," said James E. Dennehy, FBI special agent in charge of the agency's Newark office. "Corrections officers know these procedures and policies. Instead of following those rules, Bowden admits he and his co-conspirators took matters into their own hands and then decided to lie about it."
Bowden faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 5.
The charges and allegations against Gonzalez and Vinales are still pending.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Passaic County NJ jail guard admits role in beating of inmate
