{"id":136723,"date":"2026-01-29T20:38:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/136723\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T20:38:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:38:32","slug":"pinellas-detention-deputy-arrested-for-punching-inmate-in-the-face-sheriff-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/136723\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas detention deputy arrested for punching inmate in the face, sheriff says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;He lost his cool, he lost his temper, punched him in the chest,&#8221; Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said of a detention deputy who was arrested and fired.<\/p>\n<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A Pinellas County detention deputy was arrested and fired after investigators say he punched a\u00a0restrained inmate in the chest and face while guarding him at a hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said it happened Dec. 1 at HCA Florida Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, where Deputy James Jones, 66, was assigned to watch inmate George Miller.<\/p>\n<p>During his shift, Jones told supervisors that Miller was throwing what he described as a \u201ctemper tantrum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gualtieri said Miller had been in custody since May and was known to be a difficult inmate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom the time that Miller entered the jail, he was known as a problematic inmate,\u201d Gualtieri said. \u201cHe would often cause problems with staff, mouth off to deputies and taunt other inmates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About two hours after Deputy Jones reported the &#8220;temper tantrum,&#8221; Sheriff Gualteri said a nurse heard a shouting match between Miller and Jones.<\/p>\n<p>When she looked into the hospital room, the nurse said she saw Jones punch Miller with a closed fist in the middle of his chest.<\/p>\n<p>The nurse later noticed Miller had a contusion on his left cheek and a laceration above his eye. According to the sheriff, when asked what happened, Miller told the nurse that Jones \u201cpunched the s**t out of me.\u201d The nurse reported the incident to her supervisors.<\/p>\n<p>Gualtieri said that when asked about the incident the next day by his lieutenant, Deputy Jones claimed Miller had kicked and struck him. The sheriff said the evidence does not support that account, calling Jones\u2019 statements inconsistent with the facts and saying Jones lied to his lieutenant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo just to put it in the simplest of terms,\u201d Gualtieri said, \u201cDeputy Jones got into an argument with an obstinate inmate restrained in a hospital bed. He lost his temper and punched the inmate in the chest and face, splitting open the inmate\u2019s forehead above his eye.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gualtieri said there was no lawful reason for the use of force.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is simply no lawful reason for Deputy Jones to strike Miller, and in doing so, he committed a crime. He committed a battery,\u201d the sheriff said.<\/p>\n<p>Jones was arrested Wednesday night on one count of battery, booked into the Pinellas County Jail and later released after posting $1,000 bond. Gualtieri said Jones was fired immediately following his arrest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got mouthy inmates \u2014 we\u2019ve got 3,200 of them sitting out there,\u201d Gualtieri said. \u201cHe just needed to be professional and handle it. But he lost his cool. He lost his temper.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__placeholder\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fb14f721-e406-47e6-9159-4913db6ff4a2_16x9.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo__main\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fb14f721-e406-47e6-9159-4913db6ff4a2_1140x641.jpg\"  alt=\"\" style=\"opacity:0\" onload=\"this.style.opacity=1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;He lost his cool, he lost his temper, punched him in the chest,&#8221; Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-136723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}