COs Sentenced for Violating Inmate’s Civil Rights in Bathroom Beat-Down Case
In June 2024, former Kentucky corrections sergeant Eric L. Nantell was sentenced to 84 months in prison and a further 24 months of supervised release for failing to intervene and prevent the assault of an inmate according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.
Court documents indicated that 48-year-old Eric Nantell was supervising a routine prisoner escort during his time as a sergeant at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex (EKCC) when three officers assaulted a non-violent inmate.
Nantell watched on from a doorway as the officers repeatedly kicked and punched the inmate in the head and back, before leaving the scene of the assault while it continued. Two of the involved officers were members of the prison’s internal affairs department, according to the press release.
EKCC supervisors and Kentucky State Police detectives opened an investigation within hours of the assault being reported by the inmate, said prosecutors. Eric Nantell proceeded to take part in a cover-up scheme to conceal the truth from the EKCC, State Police and FBI.
Accounts from the DOJ show that the state of Kentucky found him guilty of two counts of obstruction of justice for misleading investigators and one count of making false statements to the FBI, to go along with the one count of deprivation of civil rights.
Six other officers pleaded guilty to their roles in the assault and subsequent cover-up back in March 2024. Randall Dennis, 28, James Benish, 37, and Jeffery Havens, 28 were sentenced to 60, 27 and 15 months respectively for the assault and cover-up. Randy Nickell, 55, Nathan Cantrell, 33, and Derek Mays, 34 all received one-month prison sentences, and 24 months of supervised release, according to an earlier DOJ press release. Three of these officers went on to testify against Eric Nantell.
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