Video shows Yakima County Jail guards kicking, punching combative prisoner

YAKIMA - A Yakima man whose fight with a jail guard was captured on video is scheduled to be arraigned April 7.

Julian Juarez, 22, was charged Monday with third-degree assault after authorities say he attacked Yakima County Department of Corrections Officer Garrett Goettsch on March 5 at the jail.

Security video, obtained through a Public Records Act request, appears to show corrections officers kicking and punching Juarez after he was shocked with an electric stun gun.

Scott Himes, the jail’s security operations chief, said the actions were justified as Juarez was still resisting officers.

Juarez had been booked into jail in January on domestic violence charges.

The video shows Goettsch escorting a handcuffed Juarez, who is dressed in a striped uniform used for inmates with disciplinary issues, to a fourth-floor housing unit. Juarez, after Goettsch removed the handcuffs, is seen refusing to enter the unit. A probable cause affidavit filed by the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office said Juarez had complained about being transferred to the unit and called Goettsch an obscenity.

At that point, the video shows Goettsch attempting to restrain Juarez, who resists, and the men begin exchanging blows in the corridor.

Goettsch is seen in the video firing a stun gun at Juarez, who collapses to the floor with his arms under his torso. After Juarez hits the floor, Goettsch is seen apparently kicking him in the side.

Three corrections officers arrive and begin restraining Juarez, with the video showing one of the officers punching him a couple of times in the lower back.

Himes, who has seen the video, said the officers were dealing with someone who was still resisting physically.

“He was still fighting with them,” Himes said. “He wouldn’t give up.”

Stun guns disable people by disrupting electrical signals to the muscles. But Himes, who has been shocked with a stun gun for training, said the effects wear off quickly when the power is cut off.

“Once its stops, it stops,” Himes said, describing the effect.

Hallway cameras may not have had the right angles to show everything that was happening during the scuffle, Himes said.

The video shows officers dragging Juarez off.

Attempts to contact Juarez’s attorney, Charles Dold, were not successful.

At the time of the incident, Juarez was being held on charges of violating a protective order and assault in violation of a protective order. Yakima police say Juarez attacked his ex-girlfriend in January.