DORAL, Fla. – Surveillance video shows a Miami-Dade County corrections officer beating an inmate for about 10 seconds at Metrowest Detention Center in Doral.
Delman Lumpkin, the Miami-Dade corrections officer, punched Mike Neal, the inmate, for about 10 seconds. John Byrne, a Miami civil attorney, is representing Neal, whose criminal history includes battery on corrections officers.
“A correctional officer repeatedly beat a handicapped and handcuffed inmate and when it was over, the inmate got charged with a crime,” Byrne said. “It’s outrageous! We can’t allow such treatment to stand.”
Byrne filed a civil rights lawsuit in May. The beating was in April 2019. According to the incident report, Lumpkin reported ordering Neal to go back to his cell. Neal refused and allegedly threatened the officer, who in turn, repeatedly punched him.
The Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department released a statement saying Lumpkin is on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation.
Neal remains behind bars and he is being held without bond. Last year, he was accused of repeatedly tampering with the detention center’s sprinkler system, and prosecutors charged him with arson.