“He’s had enough.”
That was one officer’s dark assessment after a group of police beat inmate Kenneth Davis so savagely that he spent the next four days in the hospital, ailing from a broken nose and fractured ribs.
The incident took place on March 8, 2008 at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, Md. Years later, Davis has finally exacted a modicum of justice after almost a dozen officers have been forced by federal prosecutors to admit their involvement in the brutal attack.
Three more officers –Edwin Stigile, Tyson Hinckle and Reginald Martin — plead guilt on Thursday, bringing the total number of convictions to 11. Hinckle participated in the beating of Davis, which apparently was payback for Davis striking an officer earlier, according to a Department of Justice press release. Hinckle and four other officers entered Davis’s cell and beat him during the 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. shift at Roxbury.
Martin entered Davis’s cell and witnessed the assault, but did nothing to stop it. Instead, he waited outside the cell for the beating to end. Eventually, he heard one of the officers say, “He’s had enough.” The abusing officers then left the cell. Martin agreed to lie about what had happened if approached by investigators.
Stigile went a step further and actually used a magnetic device to destroy surveillance footage of cops beating multiple inmates, including Davis.
Their maximum sentences range from 10 to 20 years in prison. They will be sentenced in the spring.
“The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute officers who use their official position to commit and to cover up violations of federal criminal law,” said Jocelyn Samuels, acting assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in a statement.