San Diego Guard Sentenced for Shoving a Shackled Detainee
A former deputy at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for violating the civil rights of a pretrial detainee. According to prosecutors, ex-guard Jeremiah Manuyag Flores, 45, shoved the 57-year-old victim into a cell wall while the man’s hands and legs were chained, causing him to “fly across his holding cell, headfirst into the far wall and collapse to the ground.”
For more than two hours after the assault, the detainee—identified by the initials J.P.—laid on the ground in a pool of blood before he was found by another guard. J.P., who survived the August 2024 incident, suffered a head wound and fractured spinal column that required surgery and months of hospitalization.
A surveillance camera still shot from immediately following the shove showed Flores walking out of the cell with a smile on his face. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, during Flores’ sentencing, U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez remarked, “I don’t know how many years it’s going to be before I get that photo out of my mind. Your conduct was egregious.”
In addition to deprivation of rights under the color of law, Flores was also sentenced for falsification of records in a federal investigation. This second charge stemmed from a false “Inmate Status Report” that Flores filed about his interaction with J.P. In the report, Flores attempted to cover up the assault by claiming that “no force was used.”
A federal jury convicted Flores in 2025. It was the second trial in Flores’ case, as the first San Diego jury was deadlocked. The second jury took less than two hours in deliberation to determine that Flores was guilty of both charges.
The ex-guard, who had been free on bail, was fired from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office on June 9, 2026, and ordered to report to prison in August.
Additional sources: The Los Angeles Times, NBC News
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