WARREN — A city man pleaded guilty last week and was sentenced to three- to four-and-a-half years in prison in an assault that occurred at the Trumbull County jail in September.

Ryan M. Rafferty-Powell, 36, of Southern Boulevard NW, pleaded guilty before Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Cynthia Rice to charges of felonious assault and having a deadly weapon while under detention. He was indicted on the charge in January and could have faced 10 years in prison if he had been convicted, according to the Trumbull County prosecutor’s office.

According to a report from the Trumbull County jail, a jail corrections officer was escorting Rafferty-Powell Sept. 8 to the medical area of the jail because of a report of chest pains. An EKG was performed and a medical assistant decided to change Rafferty-Powell’s bandages that he was wearing because of a skin infection. He was sitting on a medical bench as the medical assistant removed the old bandages and put on new ones.

The jail report states Rafferty-Powell then asked for a drink of water, and the medical assistant asked the corrections officer to get the water.

“As soon as I turned, the medical assistant started yelling at inmate Rafferty, stating ‘Don’t grab the scissors. I know it hurts, but don’t ever grab at me again,'” the report states. The corrections officer stood closer to Rafferty-Powell, who said it was hurting him, but the medical assistant said she was only cutting the areas to make it hurt less.

The corrections officer saw Rafferty-Powell take the scissors from her hand and jump down from the bench. He then ran toward the medical assistant … “with the scissors over his head,” the report states.

“I ran towards him and pushed him into the other bench in front of him,” the corrections officer stated, but he lost his grip on Rafferty-Powell, who got to his feet and ran toward the medical assistant again. “pushing her up against a wall and grabbing her by the shirt,” the report states.

The corrections officer got a grip of Rafferty-Powell around the waist and took him to the floor. The corrections officer saw that Rafferty-Powell had the scissors in his hand, so the corrections officer grabbed the scissors and threw them into another room. Other corrections officers arrived, and the inmate was taken back to his cell, the report states. A witness to the end of the incident saw the medical assistant breathing heavily while the corrections officer was handcuffing Rafferty-Powell, the report states. Another corrections officer who saw the end of the incident said the medical assistant was “looking terrified.” The medical assistant was checked and found to have a “few red marks but no blood.”