Boulder County Sheriff's Office sued for tasing restrained inmate
The Boulder County Sheriff's Office is facing another lawsuit.
The lawsuit stems from a September 2020 incident where Sgt. Christopher Mecca tased a man who was already detained.
Lawyers sent CBS News Colorado video of the tasing, which also shows the man with a bag over his head.
Travis Cole was already under arrest, with both hands and both ankles strapped to a restraint chair.
He's then tased by Mecca. Deputies are accused of leaving him like that for four hours.
"How is a man tied to a chair a threat? Being Black didn't warrant that kind of treatment, humiliation, to be tied up for hours and degraded. I've never felt so defeated, and I couldn't even protect my body," Cole later said.
The sheriff's office said it had a policy in place that prohibited the use of a taser on a restrained inmate and that all staff is trained on that policy.
Mecca was placed on leave after the incident and a few weeks later, he was fired. He was later charged with third-degree assault and first-degree official misconduct.
"The fact that a Boulder Sheriff's Sergeant tased a fully restrained man days after settling another federal civil rights lawsuit for the exact same unconstitutional conduct shows just how deep rooted the culture of brutality is," Cole's attorney, Mari Newman, said in a statement.
The previous lawsuit referenced by Newman pertains to the 2017 tasing of Lauren Gotthelf by Boulder County deputies. The county settled its lawsuit in 2020, with a judge awarding Gotthelf $400,000.
"The Boulder County Sheriff's Office thinks it can dodge responsibility for its unconstitutional tasing of a restrained man by scapegoating Sergeant Mecca-yet, it was Boulder's own failure to train and discipline a sergeant for years of bad behavior that predictably caused this disgusting abuse of Mr. Cole's constitutional and human rights," Newman continued.
The sheriff's office says it's been transparent about the use of force but disagrees with the allegations of the lawsuit, saying its former sergeant bears sole responsibility.
According to Boulder County, Mecca was hired by the sheriff's office in March 2007 as a deputy and was promoted to sergeant in January 2018. He also received several honors during his tenure and has no prior disciplinary record.
