THE HECK WITH SATURDAY NIGHT...WITH THESE GUYS, ANY NIGHT'S ALRIGHT FOR FIGHTING

The Florida Department of Corrections is looking into two fights that occured in consecutive months last year allegedly involving DOC Panhandle correctional services administrator Bradley Tunnell, son of Florida Department of Law Enforcement commissioner Guy Tunnell.

Tunnell had been on paid suspension since November because of the investigation; he and eight other DOC employees are now on unpaid leave as a result.

The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group reports:

James O'Bryan, a former DOC employee attending the [agency] softball banquet in Tallahassee [last April 1], allegedly slipped and accidentally struck another DOC employee, Barbara Durrance.

According to police reports, [Apalachee Correctional Institution Colonel Richard] Frye, [ACI Major James] Bowen and [then Region I Director Allen] Clark straddled O'Bryan on the ground, hitting him until he bled before he left the building. Witness accounts said Tunnell confronted friends of O'Bryan's outside...and threatened and cursed at them.

The felony [battery] charges against Frye, Bowen and Clark later were reduced to misdemeanors and then were dropped in January. Frye and Bowen returned to paid leave when the charges were dropped, before being placed back on unpaid leave earlier this week.

Weeks afterward, Tunnell allegedly punched another DOC employee during the agency's annual softball tournament in Jacksonville, breaking his jaw and causing the employee to be hospitalized and miss 270 hours of work.

Get the idea this guy has a hot temper?