Booking Video Released In Lawsuit Against Cherokee County Jail

Wednesday, December 14th 2011, 8:17 am

By: News On 6

Attorneys for Tahlequah man have released a video reportedly from May 17, 2011 booking of a 42-year-old Daniel Bosh at the Cherokee County jail.

The video shows a handcuffed man being booked by deputies inside the county jail. In the video a man sitting behind the booking desk is seen getting up and approaches the handcuffed man.

Shortly thereafter, the man is seen grabbing the handcuffed man's head and appears to slam it into the desk.

He then appears to maneuver the handcuffed man around, holding the handcuffed man's head under his left arm, and falls backward onto the floor, driving the handcuffed man head-first into the floor.

In a federal lawsuit filed against the Cherokee County Governmental Building Authority and two Cherokee County detention employees T. J. Girdner and Gordon Chronister, Bosh alleges he was being booked into the county detention facility May 17 after being arrested for failure to pay a traffic ticket.

Bosh said he told Chronister his handcuffs were too tight, and Chronister, who was behind the booking desk, told him to shut up, then made his way around the desk.

Bosh said Chronister then grabbed his neck and forcefully slammed his head into the desk. In court documents, Chronister and Girdner say Bosh was argumentative and shouting profanities.

Bosh says he was denied medical attention for two days. When he was treated at a Tulsa hospital, Bosh says he sustained a burst spinal column fracture.

His attorney says these x-rays show the two rods and 10 screws that had to inserted into Bosh's back and neck during surgery.

Bosh says he has trouble walking, can no longer hang wall paper for a living, and can't do things he enjoyed like cooking or painting portraits.

He says he has trouble putting on his own socks and shoes or play with his two little boys, ages five and two.

He says it's especially hard for the younger one to understand.

"He's just now starting to talk, to jump on the trampoline and says, 'dada jump.' I say, I can't. It pulls at your heart," Bosh said.

In a second video, Bosh is now in a jail jumpsuit being led out of the shower area.

The lawsuit says once taken there, another jailer punched Bosh in the face, then falsified the booking sheet to say Bosh was combative and preparing to spit on him.

"Everyday, everyday, I relive it," he said.

Both jailers named in the lawsuit deny all the allegations, including delaying medical care.

They say the force used was reasonable and lawful. The authority that runs the jail has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed.