By Lyndsay Winkley
The San Diego Union-Tribune
OTAY MESA, Calif. — A 33-year-old prison inmate is accused of spitting on and punching a prison guard and then attacking three other guards who tried to intervene Wednesday afternoon, prison officials said.
Charles Morgan is suspected of attacking the first guard at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Otay Mesa about 2 p.m., said Lt. Philip Bracamonte, with the state’s corrections and rehabilitation department. When another guard approached, Morgan hit her in the face. She was knocked to the ground and hit the back of her head.
Two more guards went to intervene and Morgan hit and elbowed them before being subdued with pepper spray and physical force, Bracamonte said.
Morgan, who was sentenced to six years in prison for assault with a deadly weapon in January 2013, was treated by medical staff at the prison. He was then placed in administrative segregation, the lieutenant said. His condition was not revealed.
The four guards were treated at an outside hospital. The woman who was knocked down suffered a concussion and a head injury and is recovering at home, Bracamonte said. The other guards suffered minor injuries.
Morgan has a long history of battery on peace officers, officials said.
In 2001, he served a two-year sentence in San Luis Obispo County for battery on a peace officer.
He violated his parole and was sent back to prison, this time in San Diego. There, he received a two-year sentence for battery on a non-prisoner in 2004 . Then, in 2005, he received another three-year sentence while in local custody for battery on a non-prisoner inflicting great bodily injury.