Prison officer who put wheelchair-bound man in headlock fired

'There's no excuse for it, no reason for it. It's not justified. It's flat out wrong,' says Sheriff Bob Gualtieri

A prison officer has been fired after using excessive force on an inmate in a wheelchair.

Deputy Aaron Hull was captured on CCTV during a confrontation with the convict at Pinellas County Jail on 24 September 2018.

In the surveillance video, Mr Hull, who was counselling a group of inmates during a lockdown, can be seen approaching Taylor Schuessler, 24, grabbing him by the neck and striking him in the face multiple times.

The former Pinellas County Jail employee poked Schuessler several times in the neck after he spat in the deputy's face.

Footage also shows Mr Hull placing Schuessler him in a headlock during another altercation after moving the inmate's wheelchair from the area.

During an internal investigation, it was determined that things escalated between the pair after Schuessler, 24, started to speak out against Mr Hull and the other prisoners.

According to the report, the deputy told the insubordinate inmate to stop and became aggressive when Schuessler refused to comply.

Mr Hull admitted to losing his patience, overreacting and responding inappropriately to the Schuessler’s actions.

“Kicking a chair is not the best action I could have taken,” he said during an interview with a review board. “Poking him in the head while not a use of force, per se, was probably inappropriate contact.”

Officials described the footage as “troubling” to watch and insisted that there was “no excuse” for Mr Hull’s behaviour.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said: “One of the most troubling parts of it is it was done out of anger and he was going after a disabled person who can’t walk and can’t defend himself.”

He continued: “There's no excuse for it, no reason for it. It's not justified. It's flat out wrong.

”It's black and white. Absolutely, no reason. No justification. It's not permitted. He put his hands on an inmate, poked him in the face, slapped him in the head, got into a fight with a guy that can't walk in a wheelchair.”

Mr Hull was fired on Thursday for violating sheriff’s regulations.

Schuessler, who was arrested in January 2018 by St Petersburg police on a charge of discharging a destructive device, was released from the jail on 16 November.