Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As you have probably heard, there was a youth-on-staff assault on Monday at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall. As often happens in these cases, there are a lot of rumors floating around and as your Union, we are careful about making an official communication until we have all the facts – which we now do.
Before going into the details, we want to make clear that we will not stand for the County’s continued lack of action – directly and/or indirectly supporting these violent minors. The attacking juvenile, who turns 18 next month and has a history of violence in the Halls – must be immediately removed and charged. The Department MUST hold these youth accountable. Further, although the attack was on a supervisor, an injury to one is an injury to all. We are working closely with the SDPO’s union, SEIU Local 721, on this matter.
The Incident
The incident occurred around 10:20 PM on Monday, April 10, 2023. The youth used a handmade shank and slashed the Supervising Detention Services Officer (SDSO) in the face and neck area.
As we understand, the youth in Unit Q were refusing to return to their rooms and staff responded to assist. While staff were counseling the juveniles in the Dayroom and encouraging them to go to their rooms, one of the minors stepped out of the Dayroom to get some water as a SDSO stood watch at the door. As the minor walked back to the Dayroom, the 17-year-old youth who has been involved in previous assault incidents, pulled out a handmade shank and assaulted the SDSO who was standing by the Dayroom door.
The SDSO’s co-workers responded quickly by grabbing and pulling the youth away from the SDSO and got him to drop the shank. The youth was then placed in his room and the other youth in Unit Q went to their rooms without incident (except for one minor who refused and had to be escorted to his room by staff while resisting).
The SDSO was transported to the hospital, received stiches for a severe facial laceration, and has been released.
We will report any updates on this incident as they become available.
Sincerely,
Local 685 Executive Board