A new lawsuit alleges that a group of Colorado deputies violated the civil rights of a teenage girl who was reportedly the victim of a sex crime and used excessive force against her when she was detained two years ago.
Lawyers representing a young woman identified as L.Z. in the complaint obtained by Atlanta Black Star allege that Custer County Deputies Michael Kear, Miles DeYoung, and Megan Robbins, alongside Sgt. Scott Hinshaw was involved in that detainment, which was caught on bodycam footage in Westcliffe, Colorado, on Jan. 18, 2022.
That footage shows Deputy Kear finding the then-16-year-old girl at a trailer in town with two older men after deputies received a call that she ran away from home.
After Kear finds the girl hiding in a closet, he handcuffs her and leads her outside. The complaint says that Kear alleged the girl tried to pull away from him after they walked outside, so he forced the girl “face first into a parked car.”
After some time, Deputy DeYoung arrives to help Kear take the girl into custody. Body camera footage shows Kear ordering the girl to get into the back of DeYoung’s police car, but she refuses to comply, and she lets her legs give way to sit down on the ground.
After demanding she get up to get in the car, the deputies try dragging her instead, and at one point, L.Z. suddenly turns her head at Kear in an alleged attempt to bite him, and Kear gives her a warning.
While still struggling to put the girl in the back of the car, DeYoung asks Kear if he thinks she should be Tased. Kear says no. Moments later, deputies finally got the girl partly into the backseat and demanded she put her whole body in the car. Kear asked her if she wanted to get Tased when she wouldn’t comply and pulled out his Taser.
After deputies try ordering the girl again, Kear uses the Taser on her, and the girl shifts her body so that she’s fully inside the car.
Before leaving the scene, Kear questioned one of the older men the girl was found with. He told both deputies that he brought L.Z. to the trailer from some unknown location and that she told him that she was 18. The man also said they regularly help addicts and others who need help and allow them to stay in that trailer.
However, the lawsuit alleges that “the situation presented all the hallmarks of sexual trafficking of a minor,” but neither Kear nor DeYoung questioned if the two men “furnished controlled substances to L.Z., were providing her with alcohol, or were engaged in sexual activity with L.Z.”
Neither of the two men was ever investigated for harboring a runaway or contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to the complaint. Bodycam footage shows Kear only warning the man he was questioning about a warrant out for his arrest but decided to let him go as a “courtesy” while promising to return the next day if he did not go to court.
After leaving, Kear and DeYoung arrive at the sheriff’s office, where Deputy Robbins and Sgt. Hinshaw joins them. Kear also retrieves a restraining chair to put the girl into.
After DeYoung opens the police car door and demands L.Z. to walk out of the car, she remains inside, still handcuffed.
Kear threatens to shock her again if she doesn’t comply and get out of the car, and she refuses to move. Kear uses a Taser on her once more, and L.Z. cries out in pain before getting out of the car and into the chair. She also begins “convulsing and hyper-ventilating” and “urinated in her pants,” according to the lawsuit. Bodycam footage does show her in distress and heaving severely.
After restraining her, deputies escort her inside the sheriff’s office. The rest of the footage shows the girl gasping for breath as she’s restrained and being monitored by office staff. Deputies further restrained the girl and put a bite mask on her, as well.
The legal complaint states that Kear believed L.Z. to be under the influence of a controlled substance during her detainment. He requested that she be charged with resisting arrest, but the district attorney dismissed that charge after the girl’s legal team filed a motion “asserting Defendant Kear…engaged in outrageous government conduct.”
Attorneys representing the girl say their client was exposed to “great injury, pain, terror,” and “risk of death.”
“This kind of treatment would be excessive against a hardened criminal,” the girl’s attorney, Tyler Jolly, said. “To treat a 16-year-old child and the victim of a sex crime like this is absolutely disgusting.”
The suit seeks damages and a jury trial.
We reached out to the Custer County Sheriff’s Office for more information on the incident itself, and they pointed us to their statement on Facebook.
The Custer County Sheriff’s Office posted this statement on Facebook notifying the public about the lawsuit and that their calling for state investigators to “review” the incident:
The Custer County Sheriff’s Office received notification, today January 17, 2024, that a lawsuit had been filed against three former deputies and one current detention deputy. The lawsuit alleges that a deputy used excessive force while arresting a 16 year old and that two other former deputies along with one current detention deputy failed to intervene. The incident occurred on January 18, 2022 under a previous Sheriff’s administration.
The current sheriff, Rich Smith, has not been served yet with the lawsuit but is very concerned about the allegations. Sheriff Smith requested today the Colorado Bureau of Investigation review the January 18, 2022 incident which is documented on body worn cameras and in police reports. Sheriff Smith volunteered to support their findings, up to and including the possibility of criminal charges.
Sheriff Smith also notified the Colorado POST director of the allegations.
