Videos released by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office show a jail inmate beating up multiple detention officers and the foul interior of a Wittman hoarder's home.
Both are newsworthy and, well, just darned interesting to watch.
In the first, shot two weeks ago by a surveillance video in the Lower Buckeye jail, an unidentified 18-year-old inmate attacks two detention officers in a recreation area, then fends off multiple guards and Taser strikes.
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The inmate's fighting skills, while crude, are no match for the two out-of-shape guards. Then again, Tasers don't seem to affect the inmate, either. After felling one guard, he brushes away the wires of a Taser fired by the second and begins punching him. Beating the man down, he turns back to the first guard and hits him again in the face.
Scott Beaty, who's worked for the MCSO for 15 years, reportedly will need reconstructive surgery on his face and had bleeding of the brain.
More officers pour into the rec room, some apparently hitting the prisoner with more Taser strikes, but he doesn't go down until he's swarmed. All told, four guards suffered injuries -- but the inmate wasn't hurt.
Perhaps most amazing is the way that chess board and other games on the table remain in pristine condition throughout the melee.
The second video contains no action, but we found it even more compelling than the fight -- must be the animals.
See next page for the hoarder video and info:
According to reports, this is the inside of the Wittman home of 71-year-old John Koepke. He kept at least 54 dogs and 19 cats there, though a 2011 court order was supposed to stop him from owning pets, MCSO officials say.
Koepke's home isn't the worst we've seen. But it's pretty bad. Feces on the floor, a dead kitten in a chair. The animals seem to be taking care of themselves. We're not sure about reports that the cat in the video actually was nursing the chihuahua puppies in the box, but it's certainly babysitting them.
Wittman has been the site of two other high-profile hoarder cases in the last year. Lucienne "Lucy" Touboul has had more than 200 cats removed from her home by authorities in the past few years, and the MCSO conducted another raid last month. Last August, 78-year-old Jerry Brown was found dead in his home, partially eaten by his many pets.
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