COLORADO SPRINGS — A Fremont County jail inmate died naked on the floor of his cell after he was deprived of a prescription medication and beaten by guards during bouts of withdrawal-related psychosis, a lawsuit alleges.
John Patrick Walter, 53, had nine broken ribs and other injuries when Fremont County sheriff’s deputies found him unresponsive while making their rounds on April 20, 2014, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver.
The 29-page complaint alleges that guards injured Walter during efforts to restrain him as he suffered withdrawal from clonazepam, a psychotropic medication generally used in the treatment of anxiety.
Among those named in the suit are Fremont County Sheriff Ed Beicker, who oversees the jail; The Fremont County Board of Commissioners, eight corporations associated with contracts to provide medical care for inmates; two doctors, two nurses and more than 20 other individuals, many of them sheriff’s deputies.
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