A San Francisco sheriff’s deputy who is under investigation for allegedly beating an inmate is being sued by a second inmate over a separate alleged assault inside the county jail.

Jamaine Sanders, 30, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in San Francisco Superior Court against the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, alleging that, while he was handcuffed in jail in August, he was beaten by Deputy Abraham Escobar, leaving him unable to see and lying in a pool of his own blood. 

According to the complaint, the incident began after Sanders filed a grievance accusing Escobar of withholding a meal.

“Deputy Escobar aggressively approached my cell door and made racial remarks toward me,” the lawsuit says. “It was both painful and terrifying to be handcuffed and beaten by a deputy for no reason.” 

Sanders alleged that after he was handcuffed, as many as 20 deputies arrived. As he exited his cell on Escobar’s instruction, he was slammed to the floor, then punched in the face and eye by Escobar, even as he was complying with orders. Deputies escorted Sanders to a separate “safety cell,” where he was slapped and punched from behind, thrown to the ground, and restrained by multiple deputies. 

“Facing the ground, Deputy Escobar continued to punch me on both sides of my face,” the lawsuit says. “I lost consciousness several times and was intermittently aware of my surroundings. I then heard Sgt. Lopez ordering the deputies to cut off my clothes. While I was being stripped, Deputy Escobar threatened, ‘If you move in any kind of way, it’s going to end badly for you.’ Other deputies also instructed me not to move and threatened to tase me. I complied with their orders and remained still, lying on my own blood.”

Sanders was eventually assisted by jail staff who called an ambulance to have him transported to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Medical records filed with the lawsuit indicate that he suffered significant eye and facial injuries consistent with trauma, including swelling, abrasions, and impaired vision. 

It took “almost three weeks” for the swelling to subside, the suit claims, and all the while he was ridiculed by Escobar. 

“So now after these incident Escobar every time he comes in 2A he making rape jokes, or ask me thing like ‘hey hoe ass … how your eye,’ or laughing with other [inmates] abot what he did to me,” Sanders wrote in a complaint he submitted to the Department of Police Accountability.

Tara Moriarty, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, declined to comment on the incident, citing the pending litigation. 

Sanders was booked in January for felony counts of possession for sale of controlled substances, possession for sale of cocaine base, inflicting injury on an elder or dependent adult likely to cause great bodily injury, accessory after the fact, and assault with a deadly weapon not a firearm. 

The incident with Sanders happened two months prior to an investigation by the Department of Police Accountability and the sheriff’s office into Escobar for allegedly starting a fight with inmate Kayleb Hardee, according to Mission Local (opens in new tab), which was the first to report on the investigation and Escobar’s actions. 

On Oct. 17, Hardee, who was sentenced to prison for manslaughter in September after serving seven years in jail (opens in new tab), requested to use the jail’s phone when Escobar allegedly cursed at him and told him, “You’re gonna be someone’s bitch in prison. You’re gonna be my bitch here,” according to Mission Local.

Hardee alleged that Escobar then opened his cell and brought him to a separate room, where he turned off his radio before kneeing Hardee. Hardee said he defended himself from Escobar, then other deputies arrived and tackled, and tased him, leaving him — like Sanders — temporarily blind in one eye.

Hardee said he was neither disciplined nor treated for his injuries. Hardee’s mother subsequently submitted a complaint to the DPA, which launched an investigation into Escobar. The investigation is ongoing. Moriarty said the sheriff’s office, which was initially leading its own investigation, ultimately referred the investigation to the DPA. 

The sheriff’s office told Mission Local that Escobar had been reassigned and removed from inmate contact after the incident.

The city attorney’s office has not been served with Sanders’ lawsuit, according to a spokesperson.

“Once we are served, we will review the complaint and respond in court,” the spokesperson said.

In a promotional video for the sheriff’s office released in July, Escobar said he has worked there for eight years, and that his routine consists of counting prisoners in their cells. 

“Honestly, the experience I bring here is, ‘Yes, I can do something to change what people think about us,’” he says in the video (opens in new tab).