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5 inmates charged with assault while playing chess at Pittsburgh jail

Five inmates were charged with assaulting another inmate after he allegedly began to act “weird” while playing chess

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Five inmates were charged with assaulting another inmate after he started to act “weird” while playing a game of chess

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Derrick James
McAlester News-Capital, Okla.

PITTSBURGH — Five inmates of the Pittsburg County Jail were charged with assaulting another inmate after he allegedly began to act “weird” during a game of chess before striking his opponent.

Billy Chris Frazier, 39; Kaleb Lee Oss, 21; Matthew Bryan Warren, 30; Harold Lee Manus, 23; and Toby Joe Denim Morris, 19, all of McAlester, were each charged with one count of aggravated assault and battery, according to documents filed in Pittsburg County District Court.

Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Coffman wrote in a probable cause affidavit that on Feb. 5, he was made aware of an assault that occurred at the Pittsburg County Jail during the morning hours of Feb. 4.

PCSO Chief of Security Loyd London showed Coffman a video from the jail that showed three to four inmates inside of a jail cell before observing Kaleb Oss take off his shirt and enter the jail cell, the affidavit states.

Coffman wrote in his report that a short time later, the video showed what appeared to be a fight between two to three

individuals inside the cell before the fight moved into the open area of the jail pod.

According to the affidavit, the video showed Billy Frazier, Harold Manus, Kaleb Oss, Matthew Warren, and Toby Morris striking another inmate multiple times while pushing the inmate toward the door of the cell.

During the fight, the video showed Warren choking the inmate while Oss and Manus struck Hilton in the face and in the side of the body before he was pushed to the door where he inmate began to holler for a detention officer and was attacked again, the affidavit states.

At that time, PCSO Detention Officer Ethan Brown and PCSO Deputy Jason Klink entered and began removing inmates from the pod, the report states.

All five inmates involved agreed to speak with Coffman after being read their Miranda warning. They said Warren and the inmate were playing chess when the inmate “began to act weird” and stated over and over that he knew who Warren was before striking Warren in the face, the affidavit states.

Warren fell onto the bed and continued to be hit by the inmate and that was when the five other inmates joined in the fight, Coffman wrote in his report.

Coffman noted in the affidavit that Warren did have swelling and bruising on his right cheek

The inmate who was hit by the others was treated at the McAlester Regional Health Center for a fractured right orbital and a broken nose, the report states.

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©2019 the McAlester News-Capital (McAlester, Okla.)

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