Holding Center officers placed on leave

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - An Erie County Sheriff's Sergeant and five deputies are being barred from the Holding Center amid suspicion of inmate abuse.

This involves an alleged incident back in mid-January at the Holding Center. An inmate claimed he was punched in the stomach with as many as five jail staffers looking on.

A Sergeant and five deputies at the Holding Center are barred from coming to work, after an inmate claimed he was punched in the stomach by one of the deputies. No report was ever filed, but the Sheriff told News 4 the investigation is concentrating on an alleged inappropriate use of force.

"Our regulations prohibit ever striking an inmate unless the use of force is required. In a situation in which the use of force is required, there is a use of force report that has to be completed," said Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard.

News 4 sources tell us the inmate was Stephen Heilmann, one of three men suspected of running an amateur meth lab on Grand Island. They were suspected of making drugs in a fish tank in their Jenell Drive Home.

They were sent to the Holding Center on five thousand dollars bail. Heilmann is no longer in the Holding Center. Sources say the punch to the stomach did not cause serious injury.

The investigation comes in the wake of an inmate suicide in the Holding Center. 26-year-old Daniel Nye was found Saturday hanging in his cell by his shoe laces.

Erie County Attorney Cheryl Green said, "Certainly [taking away an inmate's shoelaces] is something that we are presently looking at, and we will be, I believe, taking some corrective action with respect to that action in the very immediate future."

Getting back to the investigation of alleged inmate abuse, if the Sergeant and deputies are found guilty of inappropriate use of force, the penalty could range to suspension or termination. Sheriff Howard told me termination would occur if the Holding Center staffers were lying about what actually happened.