Deputies say 26-year-old Dwayne Stafford hit Roof in the head and body with his hands, leaving Roof with bruises. Roof, who is awaiting trial in the Charleston church shootings in which nine black church parishioners were killed in 2015, was punched by a black inmate at the jail. Both inmates were examined and cleared by the detention center’s medical staff. Roof is scheduled to remain in his original housing unit.
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After the incident, the attorney for Roof has reported his client does not wish to press any charges against Stafford for beating him up.
Dwyane Marion Stafford, 25, allegedly left his cell and ran to where Roof was showering.
Stafford is jailed on charges of providing false information to police, strong-armed robbery and first-degree assault and battery, according to online jail records.
A jail report said that the attack was “unprovoked”. Roof is a particularly vulnerable inmate given the horrific nature of his charges.
Cannon said the process for giving shower access to Roof, who is in protective custody, involved officers checking to ensure that the doors to all the other inmates’ cells were properly locked and monitoring Roof as he moved in and out of his cell.
Roof is escorted by detention officers when he leaves his cell, but on that particular day, authorities say an officer was dropping off toilet paper when the assault happened.
“We are looking at it internally, at the very least we have complacency”, Cannon said.
“We do things day in and day out and they become routine and as a result of that (officers) become complacent.”
Roof is a known and confessed racist and has even talked about his desire to start a race war. They said Roof would drop the challenge if federal prosecutors abandon their decision to seek the death penalty and allow him to plead guilty and receive a sentence of life without parole.
Roof faces dozens of charges, including hate crimes, in the murders of nine people on June 17, 2015 during a bible study at Mother Emanuel.
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“This court should declare the FDPA (Federal Death Penalty Act) unconstitutional and order that this case proceed as a non-capital case”, the lawyers said in the motion.
