A detention deputy at the Pinellas County Jail in Florida has lost his job after security footage emerged showing him kicking a prisoner who he forced to do push-ups as punishment for giving a bird part of his cookie.
According to Bay News 9, a prisoner, Mario Christo, was working kitchen duty when he saw a bird sitting on a dumpster. He took piece of a cookie from the trash and threw it to the bird.
James Moran, the deputy supervising the prisoners, felt this was a breach of prison rules and ordered Christo to do 50 push-ups.
Christo couldn't finish all 50 push-ups, so Moran swiftly kicked him in the ribs.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri denounced the deputy's actions to the Orlando Sentinel:
"I'm kind of speechless on it because it is so ridiculous. It is so outside the bounds. It is such misconduct. Anybody and everybody out there knows that we don't treat people this way."
"We don't treat inmates this way. It is so contrary to what we do and the obligation we have regarding the care, custody and control of people."
Gualtieri wanted to make it abundantly clear that the deputy had acted against prison rules:
"It doesn't matter who they are. It doesn't matter where they are. Nobody, nobody deserves to be told 'get on the ground and give me 50' using profanity for simply giving a cookie that's going in the trash to a bird. It's one of the stupidest things I've ever seen."
After the video surfaced, the deputy quickly lost his job.
"And then, then when the guy is clearly exhausted, he walks up and kicks him in the side. People don't need to be treated that way, they shouldn't be treated that way and we're going to take swift and effective action and he's going to be dealt with accordingly."
Christo was serving 364 days in prison for "disorderly conduct and resisting an officer." Though his side hurt for days after the incident, he chose to wait until he was released from prison to file a report for fear of retribution.
Investigators quickly found security footage of the incident.
Moran, who had worked as a detention deputy for six years, was immediately fired and arrested for one count of battery.
The second deputy in the video is also being scrutinized by investigators for witnessing the incident and failing to report it.
Though he's only been caught on video for this single incident, Moran, who's now in police custody, admitted that he's forced inmates to do push-ups as punishment in the past.
Fortunately, it looks like Moran will be on the receiving end of prison punishments in the future.
@hebagowayed/Bluesky
@waitmanwbeorn/X
@eighthoften/Bluesky 
@antigonesdream/Bluesky 
A1