OKLAHOMA CITY — A former sergeant with the Grady County Jail in Chickasha was sentenced in federal court here after admitting he used excessive force against an inmate.
Johnnie K. Drewery, 29, must serve 30 days of weekend incarceration, perform 104 hours of community service, and will be on probation for four years.
He pleaded guilty in January 2022 to a felony civil rights violation.
According to court documents and admissions Drewery made during a plea hearing, Drewery and other officers transported an inmate into a holding cell at the Grady County Jail on July 11, 2020. As the cell door was closing, the prisoner spit on Drewery.
Drewery then screamed for the cell door to be reopened. When the door was unlocked, Drewery rushed into the cell and repeatedly punched and kneed the inmate, who suffered a fractured rib as a result of the assault.
Ironically, six days later a jailer in Texas was sentenced to prison for the same offense.
David Yager, 30, a former sheriff’s office jail sergeant in Van Zandt County, in northeastern Texas, was sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison for using unlawful force against a jail detainee.
Yager pleaded guilty and admitted that on Feb. 28, 2021, he repeatedly punched a detainee in the chest with a taser with the trigger held down, even though the man did not pose a threat to anyone; Yager admitted the detainee was confined to a restraint chair at the time. Yager also admitted that his acts injured the detainee, and that he used force on the man despite knowing there was no legitimate need to use force.