County Correctional Officer Charged With Assaulting Inmate

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 4, 2012 6:00PM

A Cook County Correctional officer was charged earlier this week with official misconduct in connection with a June incident where he punched an inmate without provocation.

Rico Palomino, 40, is accused with punching the inmate on June 16, falsifying reports to make it appear that the inmate instigated the incident, and threatening to tell his superiors the inmate tried to flee custody if he told them Palominio threw the first punch. Here's raw video of the incident, courtesy of the Sun-Times.

The victim was being processed for misdemeanor charges of violating an order of protection and criminal trespass and asked Palomino where inventoried property was stored so he could get a number from his cell phone when Palomino replied, "If you don’t get back over here, I am going to fuck you up" as the victim walked away from him.

Palomino filed reports claiming he used a "palm strike" as a defensive measure and that the inmate grabbed his shirt. He was held on $10,000 bond.