County Police Probe Alleged Inmate Assault

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegheny County Jail officials confirmed to KDKA-TV that county police are investigating after a 23-year-old former inmate says he was beaten and punched by a corrections officer last week.

Ed Brazell, of Mount Washington, was arrested in Bethel Park and later taken to the county jail to be processed and fingerprinted.

Brazell told KDKA-TV he was hit several times in the head and on the side of his face by a guard. He claims he was roughed up while he was in a first floor cell while waiting to get fingerprinted.

"There was an incident in the jail last week [with Brazell] that's been documented and is under investigation," Deputy Jail Warden Bohn said. He added that the guard involved in still on the job and has not been charged.

Meanwhile, a Greenfield woman, Kathy Crowley, said her son, 37-year-old James Swiech, was beaten by another inmate early Tuesday and guards refused to allow him to go for medical treatment.

She said she's mad because jail officials know there's a court order that's supposed to prohibit contact between her son and the inmate who reportedly assaulted him.