Inmates describe beating of jail officer in court document
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – An Allen County Confinement Officer was brutally attacked by an inmate last week at the Allen County Jail, according to details included in an affidavit for probable cause filed in court Wednesday.
Officer Brittany Preston was collecting dinner trays from inmates in a cell block when she was attacked by inmate Ashley Howser, according to details included in the document. Other officers heard a woman screaming on the radio before the transmission cut out. When they finally reached Preston on the fifth floor of the jail, they found Howser on top of her. Howser refused to let go of Preston despite requests from the officers. One of the officers then pulled Howser off Preston who was then taken to a hospital for treatment.
An investigating officer interviewed five inmates who claimed to have witnessed the attack and they described what they saw in detail. All five indicated that Preston had done nothing to provoke the attack and they agreed to cooperate with the investigation because according to the affidavit, “Preston is regarded as the nicest and most caring officer.”
Preston told the investigating officer, “This girl wants to kill me, she had rage.”
Preston also told the officer that she believes Howser would have killed her if help had not arrived. A doctor at the hospital determined that Preston suffered a concussion, contusion of the face, abrasion of the face, acute strain of a neck muscle, thoracic sprain and strain, back strain, chest and and a hemorrhage inside the eye.
Howser faces a charge of battery and when asked by the investigating officer if she would be willing to discuss the incident she replied, “Get the (obscenity) out of my house.”
