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HUERFANO County, Colo. — A family has filed a lawsuit against multiple Huerfano County entities and officials, alleging that their loved one was left to die from injuries he sustained from a corrections officer while in custody in 2023.
Rathod | Mohamedbhai LLC and The Law Offices of Adam J. Schultz filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Estate of Michael John Burch. The document names Huerfano County's board of commissioners, sheriff's office and hospital district, along with Health Care Partners Foundation Inc., Sheriff Bruce Newmann and eight other individuals.
“Yesterday, on March 26th we filed a lawsuit in federal court in the District of Colorado on behalf of the estate of Burch, to give Michael Burch a voice to vindicate his constitutional rights and to seek accountability against those who killed him in the most unimaginably painful way possible,” said attorney Omeed Azmoudeh during a press conference on Thursday.
Attorneys said Michael Burch, 69, was a retired correctional officer and was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was taken to the Huerfano County Detention Center on March 25, 2023. Burch was arrested after he went to the home of someone he did not know and swung a mallet.
According to the attorneys, on March 28, 2023, Burch was "pummeled... into a metal bench" by Detention Officer Stuart Pino for holding a pencil.
“They say, ‘Drop it or we will drop you.' And in response, Mr. Burch makes no verbal threats, no aggressive movements with the pencil. [He] doesn't advance towards the officers. In fact, he backpedals into the corner,” Azmoudeh said.
Edited surveillance video provided by the law firms shows an officer, who was identified as Pino, tase and body-slam Burch.
“Officer Pino grabs Mr. Burch's hands out of the air, pushes him backwards, slams him into a metal bench with enough power to break six of Mr. Birch's ribs," said Azmoudeh. "The autopsy report would later describe them as widely displaced, which means they were broken clean in half."
The ribs punctured several organs and caused massive internal bleeding, according to the law firms.
At one point, Burch reportedly told Pino and Captain Lea Vigil, Pino's supervisor on scene, "My ribs are crushed... all the ribs are into my body." When asked if he needed to go to the hospital, Burch allegedly said, "Oh yeah, man, I want to go." However, Burch was not taken to the hospital and was not offered medical treatment, according to Azmoudeh.
“Between March 28, the day of the use of force, and April 4, 2023, Mr. Burch receives no medical treatment. He's locked in a cell. The officers cover it with black plastic to save themselves the inconvenience of watching him suffer," Azmoudeh said.
The law firms allege that Burch was described as a "different person" once the black plastic was removed from the cell window. Attorneys claim that Burch "struggled to walk, made additional explicit statements regarding his injuries and pain, and continued to plead for medical care, among other signs indicative of the ongoing, urgent need for medical attention."
Blood had hemorrhaged into Burch's body and formed a "deep black bruise spanning the entirety of his lower torso."
On April 3, 2023, Burch made a "deathbed for himself in the middle of the concrete floor of his cell, by taking his jail-issued mattress and pulling the sheets over himself," according to the law firms. He was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023.
According to Azmoudeh, Captain Vigil reported that the circumstances prior to the assault did not require the use of force. Attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai said none of the involved officers faced disciplinary action.
“To our knowledge, not one person involved in this has been disciplined. And quite to the contrary, Officer Pino was promoted a month later,” Mohamedbhai said.
Huerfano County has 21 days to respond to the lawsuit. Denver7 reached out to the Huerfano County Sheriff's Office for comment but has not heard back as of the publication of this article.
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