CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : $40,000 Awarded in Inmate Abuse Suit

Orned Gabriel, a martial arts expert whose complaints about inmate abuse at a San Diego County jail exposed the so-called “Rambo Squad,” has won a $40,000 settlement from the county for what he said was a severe beating at the jail by sheriff’s deputies three years ago. Gabriel, jailed between February and September, 1988, for failing to pay child support, alleged in a lawsuit against the county that deputies pulled him from his jail cell in March, 1988, handcuffed him, pushed his face into a wall and pulled him by handcuffs down several flights of stairs to solitary confinement, where they struck his head on a bedpost. His allegations sparked investigations by the grand jury and the FBI and led Sheriff John Duffy to discipline 10 deputies, including several high-ranking officers.