Joseph Duvall Torrez has been charged with assaulting two officers at the Cascade County Detention Center.
Court documents state that at about 7 p.m. on Friday, December 27th, officers were performing a "cell extraction" due to inmates breaking off a sprinkler head. Officers asked the occupants of the cell to put on restraints so that maintenance staff could repair the sprinkler head. The inmates refused to comply, resulting in the order to extract the inmates from the cell.
During the extraction, Torrez pinned an officer against the wall and hit him in the chin several times, trying to knock off the officer's gas mask. A second officer pulled Torrez off of the first officer, and Torrez wrapped his arms around the second officer's neck, squeezing as they both fell to the ground. Several other officers were able to pull Torrez off of the officer and place him in restraints.
Two officers had noticeable injuries due to the altercation, according to court documents, with bruising, swelling, and soreness. Video surveillance reportedly documents the incident as the officers described.
At the time of the incident, Torrez was jailed for several pending felonies, including burglary, criminal distribution of dangerous drugs, and criminal possession of dangerous drugs. Court documents state that the burglary charge involved Torrez entering an apartment without consent and assaulting a person inside over allegations of cheating by a woman, who was also inside the apartment.
Torrez has been charged with felony assault on a peace officer, and misdemeanor assault.
