Deputy Beaten in Courthouse Lockup Melee

A volatile confrontation between jail inmates and bailiffs at the Compton courthouse Wednesday was defused when several deputies freed a fellow officer from the grasp of at least two prisoners inside a detention area, authorities said.

Two inmates--Willie J. Blue and JC Moore, both 23, were arrested on suspicion of assault with intent to commit murder, said Deputy Carl Deeley, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Blue, apparently angered by the expulsion of his mother from the courthouse, pulled Deputy Stephen Kearney into a courthouse lockup occupied by about 25 inmates and choked him, while Moore kicked the deputy in the head, courthouse deputies said. A third inmate may also have kicked Kearney and could face charges, they said.

As Kearney shouted for help, several deputies cleared the adjacent courtrooms of spectators, then entered the lockup with guns drawn. Other prisoners were held at bay while deputies pried Kearney loose.

The deputy was treated for “minor injuries” to his neck, head and knuckles at Dominguez Valley Hospital and was later back at the courthouse wearing a neck brace. Deputy George Sena suffered a dislocated thumb while trying to handcuff the assailants, Deeley said. Both deputies have been assigned to light duty because of their injuries.

One bailiff, who requested anonymity, said the trouble erupted about 11 a.m. a few minutes after Blue’s mother, awaiting her son’s hearing on robbery charges, had been removed from the courthouse because of her “emotional, hysterical” behavior.

Blue “apparently was going to get the first deputy he could,” the bailiff said. It turned out to be Kearney.

In the confusion that followed, spectators in Judge John P. Shook’s courtroom watched one bailiff rush into the lockup holding a gun, then rush back out, shouting, “Get out of here! They’ve got a gun!” The spectators fled, some locking themselves in judges’ chambers and jury rooms.

The report that inmates had a gun proved false. Another report that a shot had been fired was traced to a slamming door, bailiffs said. Kearney, like other courthouse bailiffs, is normally unarmed during his duties. Some bailiffs removed their weapons from locked desk drawers before entering the lockup.

The Compton courthouse, where security was beefed up four years ago after a public defender was mugged in a bathroom, “hasn’t had any (violent) incidents for a very, very long time,” said presiding Judge Kenneth W. Gale. “The security of the building is the highest and best it’s ever been. . . . This is a freakish thing.”