OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An Oklahoma City mother wants answers after her son was left with a hole in his face after a fight inside the Oklahoma County Detention Center.
“They deformed him in there… I don’t think anybody should go through that kind of thing in jail,” said Lisa Lusty, the inmate’s mother. “A mother should never outlive her son and that’s what I worry about.”
Randy Paulick, 28, was booked into the detention center in December 2021.
However, after an encounter inside the jail earlier this month, the inmate now has a gaping hole in his cheek.
“Even if they fix that, he’s going to have a big ol’ scar there,” said Lusty.
Detention Center officials say on May 10, Paulick and his cellmate got into a fight.
“Mr. Paulick then struck his cellmate as he was coming out of the cell,” said Mark Opgrande, a spokesman for the jail. “At that point, one of our detention officers deployed what’s called a JPX spray. It shoots a high velocity OC (Oleoresin capsicum) pepper spray.”
However, Opgrande said the spray isn’t what caused the hole.
“We estimated in our investigation it was [sprayed from] about five to six feet, which is within the distance of what you’re recommended to deploy it at,” said Opgrande. “We do know there was an altercation with a cellmate prior to our engagement with him.”
According to Opgrande, investigators did not find any weapons inside of the cell where the fight happened, but he said Paulick possibly could have hit his face on something.
KFOR asked if it was possible that the JPX spray being shot too close to someone’s face could cause a gaping hole like Paulick has to which Opgrange responded, “If it’s shot within a point blank range? Very close, yeah. Absolutely. It could cause an injury to the individual. I’ve seen pictures of what an injury looks like because it is a high velocity spray.”
He says video of the incident proves that that wasn’t the case in this incident. KFOR asked for a copy of that video, however the jail said they cannot release it due to the ongoing investigation.
Lusty tells KFOR now her son cannot eat without food leaking out of his mouth and she’s worried about an infection.
“I called everyone I can,” said Lusty. “I just want him to have the proper treatment.”
Opgrande said Paulick has been seeing the Detention Center doctor and has an appointment scheduled with a specialist.