Inmate pepper sprays 2 guards in altercation at Hampton Roads Regional Jail

Portsmouth — An inmate pepper sprayed two guards at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Tuesday night after inmates in the “lockdown” unit flooded their cells and the man was removed from his cell to shower, the jail’s superintendent said.

Both guards — one officer and a supervisor — fell to the ground in the incident. One injured his knee and the other had a cut on his cheek, but Col. Christopher Walz, interim superintendent of the regional jail, said the injuries were minor.

Walz said an investigation is ongoing. The inmate had not been charged as of Wednesday afternoon, he said.

The altercation happened sometime after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday in the jail’s “lockdown” housing unit, where inmates who have received infractions for not following the jail’s rules are housed.

“That’s why they’re locked down in restrictive housing,” Walz said, “the ones who usually can’t function in general population.”

Inmates on the first level flooded their cells by clogging toilets — not unusual in a correctional facility, Walz said — and one man broke a sprinkler head.

An inmate work crew and jail staff came to clean up, and two inmates were removed from their cells so the crew could clean and get the water out. The two people became “non-compliant” and had to be taken away, Walz said.

About eight or nine minutes later, the man who broke the sprinkler head was taken out of his cell so he could shower. Walz said the man turned around, grabbed pepper spray from the jail supervisor, and used it on the officers.

After the second officer hit the ground, the man lay down and waited for officers to get there.

Staff writer Gary Harki contributed to this report.

Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com