The Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers' Association president is speaking out after he said a corrections officer was targeted in an attack that sent the deputy to the hospital.
Lance Scimeca, who presides over the 682 correctional officers who work at the Santa Clara County jail, said the deputy on Friday was knocked unconscious from behind in the attack. The incident is the third time in less than three months a county corrections officer has been stalked or attacked, Scimeca said.
Friday's attack happened in the alley of a restaurant on Aborn Road in San Jose, Scimeca said. The off-duty corrections officer was chatting with an employee, Scimeca said, when three people approached him and proceeded to assault the officer.
Scimeca said he can't confirm if the attackers were former inmates, but thinks the recent attacks have to do with a recent shift in the types of criminals who are now being sent to the county jail.
"Basically individuals who were going to spend time in the state prison system are now spending time in the county jail," Scimeca said.
