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Deputy in wheelchair case turns herself in

Woman seen in videotape dumping paralyzed man onto floor

NBC News and news services
updated 3:12 p.m. ET Feb. 16, 2008

TAMPA, Fla. - A Florida sheriff's deputy who was videotaped dumping a paralyzed man out of his wheelchair onto a jailhouse floor has turned herself in.

Jail records show Charlette Marshall-Jones was booked into the Orient Road Jail early this morning.

It is the same jail where Marshall-Jones worked. She is accused of tipping 32-year-old Brian Sterner out of his wheelchair and searching him on the floor. He had been brought in on a charge of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer after a traffic violation.

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“It can happen to anybody at any time,” said the man in the wheelchair, Brian Sterner. He  spoke with TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira in New York earlier this week. “Hopefully, that’s what will come out of this, that this negative way of dealing with life and people will change.”

The incident, captured on surveillance video and viewed by thousands on the Internet, occurred on Jan. 29 when Sterner was being booked in the county jail.

The incident came to light only in the past week when Sterner, still angry at the treatment he received, called a Tampa television reporter, who obtained the tape and broke the story.

The Hillsborough County deputy has been charged with one count of felony abuse of a disabled person. She was released after posting $3,500 bail. An attorney for Marshall-Jones listed in jail records did not immediately return a phone message.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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