ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — A man who was an inmate at the Adams County jail is suing one of the deputies working at the jail. Surveillance video from last December appears to show the deputy using a chokehold on the man, which is illegal in Colorado.
In the video, there's no sound in the moments before the use of force. A lawsuit filed on behalf of Gabriel Sisneros alleges what we can't hear.
Sisneros was walking to visit someone, according to the lawsuit, and took some drawings he made. The complaint says the deputy grabbed the drawings out of his hands, and refused to give them back.
"The video evidence appears to support the allegations put forward by the plaintiff," said Ed Obayashi, a use of force expert in California.
According to the lawsuit, the deputy got angry because Sisneros wasn't allowed to draw on that type of paper.
The lawsuit says Sisneros "remained calm," and did not yell at, threaten, lunge at, "or do anything to physically respond to" the deputy's "inexplicable and unjustified actions."
Instead, the lawsuit says, Sisneros stood where he was and tried to ask the deputy why the deputy was yelling and throwing the drawings on the ground.
If the allegations in the lawsuit are true, Obayashi said, what happened next is troubling.
In body camera video, Obayashi sees the deputy using a chokehold, which is banned in Colorado. The lawsuit says the deputy lifted Sisneros by the neck for almost 10 seconds.
> Content Warning: This video contains strong language and violence. It may be difficult for some people to watch.
"The type of force that is being utilized on the plaintiff appears to be in the nature of serious, significant use of force," Obayashi said.
Sisneros bonded out of jail this month, according to the lawsuit, which is almost a year after this incident.
"There could have been serious bodily injury if not death," Obayashi said.
The deputy is still on restricted duty in Adams County, which means he does not have contact with inmates.
A criminal investigation into the deputy's actions is still ongoing one year later. The Adams County Sheriff's Office said they will do their own internal investigation when the criminal one wraps up. That is standard for all internal investigations that have matching criminal cases.
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