Jefferson County deputies under review for sweeping legs out from underneath handcuffed inmate
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is still reviewing a deputy use of force incident at the Jeffco jail that happened eight months ago, in which deputies are seen in surveillance video sweeping the legs out from underneath a handcuffed inmate, causing him to slam face-first into the concrete floor.
So far, the deputies involved are still on the job, and have been given a four-hour remedial training course as a result of the incident, but investigators say more could be discipline actions could be coming, because it's not just how they took the inmate down that's in question, but also how one of the deputies allegedly bragged about it afterward.
Deputies say 54-year-old inmate Fredrick Fisk was having a mental health episode on the night of November 20, 2022, and needed to be escorted to a different unit.
Surveillance video from the jail shows at one point while being walked down a jail hall in handcuffs, Fisk stopped walking, and deputies tried to convince him to keep going, but he didn't budge.
Then, video shows two deputies grabbed each of his legs out from under him, and he slammed into the concrete ground face first. A pool of blood formed under his face.
But in their reports written later that day, one of the deputies wrote that Fisk "appeared to flail... causing him to fall onto the ground."
Two other deputies wrote they were controlling Fisk's legs and felt his "weight shift to the left and forward, pulling out of my left hand... Fisk then fell to floor."
Commander Chris Felton with JCSO, who is in charge of administrative investigations, says the deputies could have done a better job of detailing what occurred in their reports. He says the deputies were attempting to get Fisk to his knees so he could be taken to the new unit by wheelchair.
"It's an accurate representation, but it's not detailed enough," Commander Felton said. "Accurate in terms of what the video showed, their hand positioning... the intention was to lower him into a kneeling position, that was verbally stated and witnessed by other witnesses we interviewed."
One of the deputies involved in the incident reportedly made comments after the takedown bragging about what happened, according to JCSO reports obtained by CBS News Colorado.
According to the report, the deputy said, "that jujitsu really works," "I'm not afraid to take a b**** down," and "the ankle pick worked, that was great."
Asked about those comments, Commander Felton said, "it's absolutely not in line with the values a Jefferson County, those comments are not tolerated, I will never defend those comments. That's posturing, that's arrogant, and that's not what we are. When I look at his actions on scene, he was compassionate. I was talking to the inmate, and he understood the inmates history.... so he was taking a proactive approach, but the bragging afterward, not tolerated."
There are also some contradicting descriptions in the reports as to whether Fisk was being combative or threatening. Some deputies said Fisk was attempting to spit on the deputies, but another deputy said he "did not see Fisk attempting to spit on anyone."
Felton says the deputies involved were only on the job for about a year, and received four hours of additional remedial training in March as discipline.
He also says a sergeant in charge was issued a written reprimand for failure to report the use of force within the timeframe required by policy. JCSO adds that sergeant was also removed from his ancillary role as an arrest control instructor.
"We absolutely want to ensure that that does not happen again," Felton said. "They absolutely could've been done better, and by the public's expectation, shall be done better, that was our intent in retraining."
He says his office intends to do follow up evaluations on the deputies involved, to ensure what they learned in the training is still being utilized.
"Are the reports improving? How are we doing? And we won't hesitate to say we could always do this better," Felton said.
Felton says his office has not contacted the district attorney, saying they determined the incident was not criminal.
"A crime would involve some sort of criminal culpability, we start there, this was an application of a technique within the scope of the law, it was objectively reasonable and appropriate," Felton said. "There was no malice, they absolutely did not intend to harm Mr. Fisk, this was unintentional, this was an accident, unintentionally we caused this injury."
He says his office conducted an extensive investigation that involved several witness interviews, which he says helped him come to the conclusion that the injury was not intentional.
He says a use of force review board is still reviewing the facts of his internal investigation, and will present recommendations to the sheriff for any further discipline actions if deemed necessary. That review board is made up of other employees within JCSO, many of whom are also instructors for law enforcement training courses across the metro area, according to Felton.
Felton also says the detentions division at JCSO is still reviewing the conduct issues and alleged bragging comments, which could also result in further discipline from the undersheriff.
Felton says at this moment, there is no timeline on when those decisions will be made.
"We employ some of the finest folks in this profession, I can say that for certain," Felton said. "My message to Jefferson County is that this is an isolated incident, and we took an internal look ourselves and said, let's clean this up, because we can do better."
Fisk is currently in a state prison for burglary and assault charges, but his family says he is expected to be released next month.
Fisk's brother and his wife tell CBS News Colorado he is a good man, who made mistakes, but he didn't deserve what happened to him in jail.
His wife also says Fisk was suffering from dementia at the time of the incident, and that the incident was "unacceptable."
