Colorado grandmother will get $2.4M after being wrongly arrested whereas bare
In Might 2014, three deputies with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Workplace knocked on then 49-year-old Carolyn O’Neal’s door at New Creations Inn, a homeless transitional housing program in Cañon Metropolis, Colo., to carry out a welfare test after administration reportedly grew involved she would possibly hurt herself.
NEW MEXICO SHERIFF WON’T ENFORCE STAY-AT-HOME ORDERS THAT SUBVERT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
In accordance with court docket paperwork, O’Neal insisted that she was not making an attempt to hurt herself and advised deputies to go away as a result of she was bare and about to take a shower, the Denver Submit reported. The deputies entered utilizing a key and, sooner or later, determined to put O’Neal beneath arrest, throwing her onto the mattress and handcuffing her whereas she remained unclothed.
They lined her in a blanket earlier than strolling her outdoors in daylight and bringing her to jail as a substitute of a hospital. Her legs and arms have been certain to a chair for about 4 hours. Jail safety digicam footage confirmed she was lined with a drape and deputies positioned a spit masks over her head, Fox 31 reported.
Carolyn O’Neal (Fremont County Sheriff’s Workplace)
BOSTON BODY CAMERA VIDEOS PROMPT PROBES INTO ALLEGED POLICE BRUTALITY DURING GEORGE FLOYD UNREST
Sooner or later, deputies eliminated the restraints on her legs however later determined to place them again on. They shocked O’Neal twice with a Taser when she resisted, safety digicam footage confirmed. She wasn’t given jail garments till 12 hours after she was initially taken into custody.
“This was an outrageous case,” her lawyer, David Lane, advised the Denver Submit on Sunday. “Legislation enforcement officers who believed they have been above the legislation acquired smacked down laborious by a jury. And sadly, this prices the taxpayers of Fremont County some huge cash. However I hope it evokes the citizenry to demand accountability from legislation enforcement — in any other case, it’s popping out of their pockets.”
In April 2019, O’Neal was awarded $3.6 million in Denver District Court docket after a jury discovered Freemont County sheriff deputies had violated her privateness, used extreme pressure and retaliated towards her for previous arrests. The court docket later lowered the award to about $2.1 million, and each side appealed. On Sunday, Fremont County dropped its enchantment and agreed to pay O’Neal $2.4 million.
O’Neal, a mom and grandmother, was initially charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct for “offensive utterances” in connection to the incident, however all expenses have been later dismissed by a choose. In accordance with her lawyer, O’Neal had been sporadically homeless all through her life, struggled with alcohol and drug habit, and was abused by males.
Lane mentioned his shopper has been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction and panic-anxiety dysfunction, Westword reported in April 2019.
