Dec. 11--CLERMONT -- A state corrections officer, fired after he was accused of breaking facial bones of an inmate in handcuffs and leg irons at Lake Correctional Institution, could find himself on the other side of prison bars.
Corrections officer Brad Heilman, 33, of Summerfield could be sentenced to 15 years in prison if convicted of aggravated battery in the alleged assault of Duane Eddy Royster, 49, at the Clermont prison.
Walter Forgie, supervisor in Lake County for the State Attorney's Office, said an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded Heilman's actions were an excessive use of force and constituted criminal behavior. Forgie said the inmate's nose and orbital bones of both eyes were fractured.
According to the FDLE report, Heilman "knee spiked" Royster in the stomach Aug. 26, drove him face first into the pavement and punched him repeatedly in the face with a closed fist.
One officer told FDLE investigators that Heilman and Royster were sparring verbally and "it was getting serious" before Heilman drove the inmate to the concrete face-first.
According to the FDLE report, one of the officers heard Heilman ask Royster "if he was done resisting" and when Royster said he was, Heilman hit him two more times.
Royster, who stands 5-foot-9 and weighs about 125 pounds, said the 6-foot-2, 300-pound Heilman accused the inmate of attacking him and spitting on him. Royster told investigators he never spit on Heilman.
Royster, serving a five-year sentence for resisting an officer with violence in Brevard County, was taken to South Lake Hospital and then transferred to Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville for surgery, which he refused. He had been transferred from the Charlotte Correctional Institution for mental-health treatment, a specialty at the Clermont-area prison.
Lake Correctional Institution warden Jennifer Folsom fired Heilman in a letter that cited his previous disciplinary record, a suspension in 2008 and written reprimand in 2009, both for failing to follow instructions.
Heilman is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 27.
Copyright 2011 - The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
