Disabled man urges leniency for deputy

TAMPA, Fla., June 30 (UPI) -- A disabled Florida man who was dumped from his wheelchair by a jailer is urging officials to spare the deputy from going to trial.

Quadriplegic Brian Sterner, whom officials said was dumped to the floor of the Hillsborough County, Fla., jail by detention deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, has intervened in her disciplinary case and recommended she be sent to an intervention program rather than face trial on criminal charges, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Monday.

Prosecutors complied with Sterner's request and Marshall-Jones entered a pretrial intervention program, which, if she completes successfully, will result in a sentence of 100 hours of community service with disabled people, the newspaper said. Marshall-Jones has already resigned from her county jail job and may have to surrender her certification to be a detention deputy.

Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi told the Times that it was Sterner who approached prosecutors asking that Marshall-Jones be allowed to enter pretrial intervention instead of going to trial. The prosecutor, however, said she didn't know whether Sterner's recommendation had to do with any civil litigation.

Sterner had been taken to the Hillsborough County jail Jan. 29 for an outstanding traffic warrant.