Detention officer fired last week, county manager says

A Curry County detention officer has been fired for taking two inmates outside the jail to eat last week.

Tuesday, County Manager Lance Pyle confirmed the detention officer was fired Friday by jail Administrator Keith Norwood.

The detention officer has not been identified.

Norwood said the two inmates were taken outside the jail to eat lunch July 27. Both are charged with violent crimes.

Inmate Albert Lopez is accused of shooting at the home of a Clovis police officer. Inmate Rico Sena is charged in connection with a failed Feb. 21 escape attempt at the jail.

Norwood said Thursday the pair were on a work detail inside the facility and a detention officer took them outside to eat their jail-prepared lunches.

Norwood said the detention officer didn’t have authority or permission to take the inmates outside.

Lopez is accused of shooting at Officer Steve Eiduk’s home and patrol unit in July 2009. Eiduk, his wife and infant child were home at the time of the shooting but were uninjured.

Sena is charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon causing great bodily harm. He was one of four inmates accused of smashing holes in walls of their concrete block cells, then running through the jail armed with handmade knives, causing more than $14,000 damage.