SWAT teams quell uprising in Platte County Jail
It was unlike any situation ever experienced in the current Platte County Jail.
Around 30 inmates were involved in what authorities describe as a riot, an incident that lasted for several hours and ended only after SWAT teams from the Platte County Sheriff’s Department and Clay County Sheriff’s Department fired pepper balls into an area of the jail known as G Tank.
Major Erik Holland with the Platte County Sheriff’s Department reports a majority of the inmates involved say they were motivated by the lack of electronic cigarettes being distributed that day.
Holland said electronic cigarettes can be purchased by inmates five days a week, Monday through Friday. The day of the riot, the cigarette distribution had not been an option because “it takes a sergeant or higher to restock the (cigarette) cabinet for security reasons. The sergeant was out training on that day.”
The riot took place on a Monday, meaning the E-cigarettes had not been distributed since the previous Friday.
The riot began 5:13 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 20 and ran until SWAT teams fired pepper balls into the dayroom in which the riot was taking place at about 10:18 p.m., according to court documents.
Court papers describe pepper balls as “small plastic balls filled with OC powder, fired by a rifle, like a paint ball gun.” OC powder, also known as pepper spray, is Oleoresin Capsicum. A website for U.S. Tactical Supply describes it as “a targeted payload round to a localized geographical area. Its inflammatory effect causes the eyes to close, taking away vision of the subject(s).”
The website goes on to say OC “allows for a surgical application of pepper spray at a safe distance. It can be targeted against an individual or a small group within a localized physical area, eliminating the risk of injury and debilitating discomfort to bystanders.”
While the riot occurred back on Dec. 20, it did not come to light until this week when The Landmark requested a probable cause statement in a case in which an inmate has been charged with damage to jail property. Some details of a jailhouse riot were found within that probable cause statement.
A spokesperson for the Platte County Prosecutor’s Office has indicated the prosecutor expects to file charges on many inmates involved. The specific charges will depend on each inmate’s level of participation in the incident, as authorities say there were different levels of involvement among inmates. As of Monday afternoon, prosecutors said two inmates have been charged, with others to come.
“This would classify as a riot,” Holland responded when reached this week by The Landmark for information. Something like this has not happened “since this jail was opened,” Holland said. The current jail opened in 1998.
“The closest thing we’ve had to this was about 15-20 years ago when inmates in D Tank just sat on the floor and refused to go to their cells. But this incident was markedly above what has been seen before,” Holland told The Landmark.
RIOT DETAILS
According to court documents, the Dec. 20 riot initially involved about 25 inmates assigned to the G housing tank. After the five hours of rioting, the firing of pepper balls into the area to quell the disturbance was followed by a few additional hours of decontamination of the inmates and the area, Holland said.
“Many inmates were passive participants, sitting in chairs and refusing to lock down as ordered by the detention facility staff. Others were active participants who barricaded doors, flooded the shower room, dumped water on the floor to make it slippery and dangerous for law enforcement to enter,” according to court documents.
Inmates threw wet toilet paper at the observation windows and security cameras to obstruct the view of law enforcement into the area, authorities say.
Authorities say Bruce Brandenburg, 38, of Nevada, Mo. was the first inmate to begin the process of barricading the slider door that serves as the entryway into the tank, also known as the dayroom. Barricading the door was done in an effort to prevent law enforcement from entering the tank to regain control. Authorities say Brandenburg used dayroom tables and chairs to form the barricade. Brandenburg also allegedly threw wet toilet paper at the tower observation windows and security camera in an attempt to block visual access into the tank.
Brandenburg is in the Platte County Jail on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance. Authorities have now charged him with two crimes in connection with the riot: a Class E felony of damage to jail property and a misdemeanor of rioting.
Also charged in the riot is Christopher L. Mejia, 42, of Parkville, who is jailed on a robbery charge. Mejia now faces additional charges of felony damage to jail property and a misdemeanor of rioting.
In addition to Mejia and Brandenburg, probable cause statements for many more inmates “are under review” in connection with the riot, a spokesperson in the prosecutor’s office said.
“Riots have been rare in the Platte County Jail. They will not be tolerated. Everyone who participated in this riot will face consequences,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd told The Landmark on Tuesday.
Authorities allege Mejia “is seen going into the shower room with a broom and seconds later water can be seen exiting the shower room after he broke the fire suppression sprinkler in the shower.” Authorities say Mejia also moved items from around the dayroom to barricade the slider door.
Holland said inmates barricaded all of the entrances into the dayroom area. One barricade was about seven feet high, Holland said, and “other barricades were designed to prevent other doors from being able to be opened.”
“What we call the tank is the dayroom. You have an outer door, which is the slider door. When you walk through you’re in a big open common area, which is where the inmates in that dayroom spend most of the day out. The area has tables and chairs. That’s where the inmates eat their meals. The cells are on the back wall of that dayroom area,” Holland described.
The Platte County Sheriff’s Department activated its SWAT team and also called for the assistance of a SWAT team from the Clay County Sheriff’s Department, Holland said.
Authorities were able to eventually open one of the doors and rip down a decent portion of the barricade. Officers then fired pepper ball rounds into the tank, Holland said. The main point of aim was the ceiling, which created a rain-like effect.
After the pepper balls were fired, inmates eventually decided to return to their cells on their own, Holland said.
Holland said jail staff had given inmates a number of orders to secure themselves and lock down prior to SWAT’s arrival. He said then a final warning was given to the inmates that the SWAT team was present and “we may have to use force” but inmates refused to lock down.
Some inmates began preparing for SWAT’s entry by coming up with improvised masks, anticipating the pepper spray, Holland said.
“Some of them were still trying to obscure cameras and vision. Some of them were sitting, some were yelling and screaming. It just kind of depended inmate to inmate,” Holland said.
The riot occurred in what is known as G Tank. It ranks as the second highest level of classification.
“D Tank is the highest level of classification,” Holland said, and is used for murder suspects, etc. Holland said G Tank, where the riot occurred, is the next level down and is used to hold suspects for crimes such as assault, robbery, rape and other high level felonies.
There are seven “tanks” within the jail, he explained.
Holland said a few inmates in G Tank wanted nothing to do with the riot, retreating to their cells as usual at the appropriate time.
He said some inmates in G Tank were encouraging other tanks within the jail to “engage in misbehavior” and there were three or four inmates in E Tank that did so. Charges will be requested against those E Tank inmates as well, Holland said.
“In all we have submitted 32 probable cause statements to the prosecutor’s office,” Holland said. “Not all of those are in G Tank.”
The probable cause statements lay out the allegations by officers and in effect request the prosecutor’s office to file charges against those particular inmates.