In an exclusive interview with NBC 6, Luigi Cruz described a “brutal attack” at the hands of five corrections officers at Miami-Dade Metro West Detention Center.
“My left eye was battered, black eye … my whole mouth was bruised up and I couldn't eat for like a day and a half,” Cruz said.
Cruz spent 60 days in custody for allegedly violating probation months after he was convicted of DUI and child neglect. He shared with NBC 6 photos showing the injuries he says he sustained during his altercation with the officers.
“Even if you are a prisoner or inmate, at the end of the day, we're human,” Cruz said.
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Cruz filed a complaint with the Miami-Dade Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Department. In it, he said the incident happened on August 26 during a “sweater exchange” in his unit. He told NBC 6 Officer Delman Lumpkin initiated the attack.
“He (Lumpkin) said, ‘Everybody shut the f--up, get in line.’ So I look back and everybody is in line. So I'm like, ‘who are you talking to?’ and he's just like, ‘shut the f-- and get in line.’ And I thought, who are you talking to again? After that, he launched a punch,” Cruz said.
In his complaint, Cruz claims what followed was a “brutal beating,” writing, “I gave my arms up and counted 23 blows in total while handcuffed.”
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"It was brutal, the blows to the head and to the neck continued, continued, did not stop,” he told NBC 6.
Two other inmates also provided witness statements supporting Cruz’ accounts.
One called the incident an “injustice” saying “a brutal beating occurred” once Cruz was handcuffed. He added, “blood was everywhere.”
The other inmate said he witnessed “officer Lumpkin strike inmate Luigi Cruz…with unnecessary force.”
Their allegations are included in Cruz’ complaint, which he provided to NBC 6.
Officer’s Account
But in an inmate disciplinary report filed by Lumpkin, the officer tells a different story.
He said he was “conducting a shakedown” and he asked the inmates to line up. He said Cruz was disrespectful and he gave him “loud verbal commands to place his hand behind his back,” to put hand restraints but he didn't comply. Lumpkin went on to say, Cruz then “took a defensive and aggressive stance” as if he was about to engage “in a physical altercation,” adding “in my defense, I immediately struck inmate Cruz in his upper torso area with a forearm strike.”
The officer claimed Cruz was actively resisting and was taken to the ground by him and assisting staff.
"What you cannot erase is footage, cameras, and it will show the assault that took place, me with my hands up without resisting,” Cruz said.
NBC 6 requested the surveillance video through a public records request but the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department said they couldn't release it for “security purposes.”
They declined our request for an interview or comment because the incident is under investigation but said “Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation
Department holds our employees to the highest professional standards and gives the highest priority to investigating allegations of staff misconduct.”
"What I experienced, what I saw was pure brutality in his mind and in his eyes, you know, he wanted to assault and he assaulted,” Cruz said referring to Lumpkin.
Previous Allegations
This isn’t the first time Lumpkin faces similar allegations.
Video obtained by NBC 6 shows the officer at the same facility punching another inmate repeatedly in 2019 until another officer stepped in.
MDCR determined officer Lumpkin used excessive force in that incident and suspended him for 30 days.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney decided not to file charges against the officer and asked him to be evaluated by a physiologist instead. She noted the same inmates filed over 700 complaints in a five-year period and approximately a dozen of those involved allegations of misconduct by staff.
Attorney Victor Ruiz is representing Cruz.
"What's most concerning is that officer Lumpkin was made a part of a shakedown team after having had prior incidents of violence with other inmates,” Ruiz said.
"We're animals to them and we're not human beings at the end of the day. We, on the outside, don't see what's on the inside,” Cruz said.
At a disciplinary hearing in September, Cruz was found not guilty of the rule violation officer Lumpkin filed against him.
Cruz said the officers should face criminal charges and he plans to file a civil lawsuit.
MDCR told us Lumpkin is currently working “full-duty.” NBC 6 requested an interview with him and the other officers involved through the department but they declined.
NBC 6 also reached out to the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents Lumpkin, but they told us they have no comment at this time.
