A Pima County jail guard has been charged on suspicion of assault over his interactions with a prisoner earlier this year.
Michael Flaminio, 36, a corrections officer with 12 years on the job, was cited and released on two misdemeanor counts of assault related to a use-of-force incident in August, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said.
Flaminio has been on paid administrative leave since Aug.15, the department said in a Dec. 24 news release. The sheriff's department operates the jail.
The news release did not describe what Flaminio is accused of, only that supervisors who reviewed the case "realized the incident required further investigation."
Detectives who investigated the case thought the guard should be charged with felony assault, but the Pima County Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case as a felony so it was charged instead at the misdemeanor level, the news release said.
