Officers said the victim was bleeding from the head and missing teeth. The victim in that case had also been charged with child molesting. Police also learned of an assault in the same cell block days before Cruz's death. Officers observed that Cruz had severe bruising to the face and was bleeding from his left ear. Investigators later learned that Cruz had previously been housed with a defendant who was accused of assaulting Cruz several months earlier, on Aug. Court documents also list "additional co-defendants filed under seal." The seven people charged June 4 with murder are: Gamron Tedford, Kavon Donaldson, Clayton Hagan, Jaylen Ryle, David Sparks, Lasean Watkins and Delance Hatcher. An eighth defendant, Jeremy Satisfield, is charged with aggravated battery. Another witness said the assault occured between 9 and 11 p.m., but officers said they found Cruz by 10:15 p.m.Īn autopsy revealed Cruz sustained at least 18 injuries to the head, a dislocated neck, 14 injuries to his thorax, fractured ribs, lacerations and more. One witness said that after about an hour, an officer walked by but didn't see Cruz. When he would try to crawl away, inmates "would grab him and drag him back." When Cruz tried to call for help, one of the inmates allegedly used a towel to try to gag him.Īt one point, a witness said, inmates "hog-tied" Cruz, shoved his head in the toilet and poured bleach on him. Witnesses described inmates kicking and beating Cruz. "It's about to go down," an inmate allegedly told one of the witnesses.Ī witness said an inmate started wrapping people's hands with a torn sheet and "trying to hype them up" to attack Cruz. Documents say they told police one of the inmates had alerted the others that Cruz was accused of child molesting. There were around 29 inmates in the cell block at the time, according to court records. Many of them said they witnessed the beating but refused to talk to police for fear of retaliation.īut in the coming days, two witnesses spoke to investigators. Soon after the arrival of the jail's third shift staff, around 10:15 p.m., Cruz was found laying face down in the middle of the jail cell. After being held in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure, Cruz was transferred to a general population cell around 7:22 p.m.
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