DA says he asked state police to investigate the July 8 incident at the Crawford County Correctional Facility.

SAEGERTOWN — A corrections officer at the Crawford County Correctional Facility has been charged with fracturing an inmate’s face by striking him on July 8.

The case is also the subject of a newly filed federal lawsuit.

The corrections officer, Bryan Minman, 32, of Saegertown, is accused of two counts each of simple assault and official oppression, all second-degree misdemeanors, Crawford County District Attorney Francis Schultz said in a news release on Wednesday.

Schultz said Pennsylvania State Police charged Minman by summons on Wednesday. Schultz said a preliminary hearing has not been set.

The inmate, whom Schultz identified as Carl Gibson, is no longer at the Crawford County Correctional Facility, Schultz said.

He said surveillance video captured the incident that led to the charges, and that Gibson received prompt medical attention and was later operated on to surgically repair the bones in his face.

Schultz said he requested that the state police investigate when someone contacted him about the incident on Aug. 29.

“That same day I contacted Warden Ken Saulsbery to find out what had happened to Mr. Gibson. After receiving details from the warden, I requested that the Pennsylvania State Police initiate an investigation,” Schultz said in the news release. “PSP gathered evidence and conducted interviews. Once the investigation was completed, we decided that criminal charges were warranted.”

The filing of the charges against Minman came a day after Gibson, the inmate, filed a civil rights suit against Minman, Crawford County and another corrections officer in U.S. District Court in Erie. The four-count suit claims that Minman and the other officer violated Gibson’s rights by using excessive force.

The suit, which Erie lawyer John Mizner filed, claims that Gibson has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and that he was beaten because Minman and the other corrections officer “were frustrated by his (Gibson’s) mental disability, which was causing him to act out.” The suit claims that Gibson was beaten “in the savage assault” after he threw his milk out of his cell door.

Gibson had been jailed while awaiting trial on misdemeanor stalking and disorderly conduct charges, according to the suit.

Original article by: Erie Times News Staff