A former inmate has filed a federal lawsuit claiming excessive force against Denver and several of its police officers, nurses and correctional officers including a cop often named in brutality claims.
Kenneth Zartner filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver Tuesday naming eight Denver employees including who has been accused at least 15 times in excessive force cases.
Also named in the lawsuit are deputies David Pacheco, Robert Mazotti, Mario Gallardo, Craig Penson, Jeffrey Steed and Richard Gilstrap and nurse April Kulhanek.
Zartner was convicted of robbery, given a suspended 10-year prison sentence and placed on probation on May 29, 2013, according to Denver court records.
Zartner claims that Denver police and jail employees were deliberately indifferent to a wrist injury he suffered while handcuffed on Oct. 10, 2013, and his severe abdominal pains on Nov. 27, 2013.
Lakewood attorney Brice Tondre, Zartner’s attorney, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
The lawsuit accuses Miller of on Zartner on the afternoon of Oct. 10, 2013.
“Denver was fully aware of defendant Miller’s prolific use of excessive force but did nothing to stop defendant Miller’s sadistic abuse of power,” the lawsuit said.
Zartner acknowledges that he resisted fingerprinting “because of the excruciating pain he was experiencing as a result of the injury to his wrists,” the lawsuit says.
Zartner had suffered a triquetral chip fracture, Dr. Christian Stob later determined.
The next morning deputies fingerprinted Zartner by force, exacerbating his wrist injury, without providing him medical care.
On Nov. 26, 2013, Zartner told a deputy he elevated his feet on another chair in the Denver jail because he had severe abdominal pain. Two deputies placed him in restraints and put him in a gooseneck hold. His wrist was injured again in the process.
Despite numerous complaints about abdominal pain, his treatment did not commence until Dec. 2, 2013 and continued until March 2014.
When Kulhanek evaluated Zartner, she did nothing about his abdominal pain, but did say the handcuffs were too tight.
Another hand doctor later diagnosed nerve damage to his hand, the lawsuit says. A series of surgeries to Zartner’s wrists were performed in 2015.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or @kirkmitchell or denverpost.com/coldcases
