$500,000 for Colorado Detainee Dropped On His Face by Jailers
In a settlement agreement dated May 28, 2024, Colorado’s Jefferson County agreed to pay $500,000 to Frederick Fisk, a former detainee at the county jail who suffered substantial injuries to his face after guards used a jujitsu move to take him to the ground while he was handcuffed.
On the night of November 20, 2022, the then-53-year-old Fisk was experiencing a mental health episode at the Jefferson County Jail (JCJ), when he was handcuffed behind his back by guards. Jail surveillance footage revealed that while guards then escorted Fisk to a medical observation unit, he suddenly stopped and refused to walk forward. The video does not have audio, but the guards alleged that Fisk became verbally aggressive, threatened to spit on them, and stated he was going to kill all of them.
In the video, guards could be seen grabbing Fisk’s legs and sweeping them out from under him, sending the handcuffed detainee slamming face-first into the floor. After guards rolled Fisk to his side, a pool of blood could also be seen on the floor where Fisk’s face had been. But in their incident report, the guards blamed Fisk for the fall, claiming that they were trying to bring him to his knees to await a wheelchair transport when Fisk turned on them and caused his own fall. In later interviews, though, JCJ employees reported that they overheard a deputy bragging that he “wasn’t afraid to take a bitch down” and that “jujitsu really works—the ankle pick worked.”
A spokesperson for Sheriff Reggie Marinelli admitted to the Denver Post that “[t]he takedown, particularly while Mr. Fisk was handcuffed, causing him to hit his face on the floor, was unjustified in its application.” Stressing that “[t]his administration does not condone this type of conduct,” the statement added that “the use of force appears to have been a result of inexperience and poor judgment, rather than malice.”
Public Information Officer Karlyn Tilley also said that two of the three deputies involved had been disciplined: one was suspended without pay and one received a written reprimand and removal from his position as an arrest control instructor. All three remained employees of the Sheriff’s office. None was named.
Attorney David Lane of Kilmer Lane LLP in Denver represented Fisk in negotiations with the county to reach the settlement, for which no suit was filed. Lane said that the payout would not end the case, either. Because none of the guards involved was criminally charged, Lane said, “[n]ext stop, the U.S. Department of Justice.” The $500,000 payout included his attorney fee. Curiously, the settlement also stipulated that Medicaid and Medicare could not be charged for any future medical treatment related to the incident. See: Settlement Agreement, Fisk and Jefferson Cty., Colo.
Additional source: Denver Post
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