Unlawful Use of Force Lawsuit Filed
Against Ex-Deputies
January 18, 2022 Incident Involved
a Runaway Female Juvenile
by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
In a disturbing development, a law firm out of Colorado Springs has filed a civil lawsuit against three ex Custer County Sheriff Office Deputies and one current Detention Deputy. The primary defendant in the case is ex Deputy Michael Kear. The other two ex Deputies are Miles DeYoung and Supervisor Deputy Scott Hinshaw. The final Defendant is Detention Deputy Megan Robbins. The lawsuit was filed January 16, 2024.
The Complaint alleges Unconstitutional Use of Force against a minor and a Failure to Intervene by Deputies to prevent the Unlawful Force. A summary of the Complaints allegations are below. The Complaint was filed in the 11th Judicial District in Custer County. A body camera was worn by Kear which was the basis for most of the complaint.
On January 18, 2022, law enforcment received a bulletin of a “runaway teenage female that had stolen a vehicle.” The juvenile had just turned 16. Deputy Kear then asked for the juvenile’s cell phone to be “pinged” (located). The location turned out to be a trailer at 13 Lea Lane in Westcliffe. The juvenile is referred to as “L.Z.” in the complaint.
When Kear arrived at the trailer he could hear rock music being played in the trailer. After knocking on the door, a 51-year-old male, Ray Running-Eagle, came outside holding a red solo cup in his hand. Another unidentified man also came outside. When asked if the juvenile was inside, Running-Eagle asked, “She’s not eighteen?” When told she was underage, Running-Eagle exclaimed, “Oh, wow.”
The complaint alleges that the two men were drinking.
(I viewed two portions of the body camera footage. The complaints statements regarding those sections appear to be correct.)
Kear entered the trailer. It appears that the only major piece of furniture that showed on the camera was a bed at the beginning of the trailer. This was separated from the rest of the trailer by a cheap black plastic sheet hanging from the ceiling. Kear went to the rear of the trailer and found the minor in a closet. For no apparent reason, he immediately handcuffed the juvenile with her hands behind her back. The complaint alleges that Kear later stated that he thought the minor “had ingested a controlled substance.”
Kear marched the juvenile out of the trailer. A second Deputy, DeYoung, had arrived. Kear and DeYoung steered the juvenile towards De Young’s patrol vehicle to put her in the back seat. As they neared the vehicle, the juvenile started resisting going forward. Kear then appears to push the minor, possibly hitting her head on the vehicle. The minor goes to her knees. Kear drags her up by grabbing her arms that are handcuffed behind her back and shoves her into the vehicle.
As the Deputies were trying to close the door, the juvenile sticks her right leg out against the door preventing the Deputies from closing it. After some commotion both Deputies warn the minor that they were going to use a TASER weapon on her. Finally Kear tasers the minor in the right leg causing much pain. The Deputies then get the door closed.
(Kear tasing the handcuffed, barely 16-year-old juvenile, who might be intoxicated or drugged, possibly sex-trafficked, and poses no threat at all to them, violated the juvenile’s rights and violated Custer County Sheriff’s Office policy. The video is beyond disturbing.)
Note that the Complaint states that Kear knew there was an outstanding warrant for Running-Eagle and failed to arrest him. This is in violation of Colorado law. The Complaint also states, “The situation presented the hallmarks of sexual trafficking of a minor, yet Defendant Kear conducted zero investigation as to whether Mr. Running-Eagle, or his unidentified adult male companion had furnished controlled substances to L.Z., were providing her with alcohol, or were engaged in sexual activity with L.Z.” (Unbelievably, Kear and DeYoung did not even get the identity of the other adult male!) The Complaint states that, “Upon information and belief, Mr. Running-Eagle and his unidentified male companion were, in fact, sexually trafficking L.Z.”
When they get back to the Sheriff’s Office there were two other Deputies there. Supervisor Hinshaw and Detention Deputy Robbins.
Once in the Sheriff’s Office parking lot, the juvenile refused to exit the vehicle. After warnings from the Deputies that they were going to taser the minor again, Kear finally tasers her. The Complaint states that at being tased, “L.Z. cried out, urinated in her pants from being shot with the TASER weapon, began convulsing , and hyper-ventilating.” (This is all shown on the body camera footage.)
The Complaint notes that Kear actually charged the minor with resisting arrest. The charges were thrown out by the District Attorney.
(The Sheriff at the time was Sheriff Byerly. He resigned about a week later. His resignation was planned way before this incident. After a bit, the Commissioners chose the then Undersheriff, Robert Hill, to become Sheriff. Our current Sheriff, Rich Smith was sworn in as Undersheriff in August. On his first day on the job, he suspended Kear and eventually fired him. Smith became Sheriff in January of 2023.)
The Complaint then goes on to list all the violations of Colorado law that Kear and the others allegedly violated. Basically centering around Unlawful Use of Force and Failure to Intervene.
The Plaintiff wants all the Deputies to be “de-certified” as Colorado LEO and have the court order “legal or equitable or any other appropriate relief.” (That is, monetary damages.)
Bottom line: Kear and DeYoung are being sued for Unconstitutional Use of Force and Failure to Intervene. Hinshaw and Robbins are only being sued for Failure to Intervene.
(The body camera footage is available on various TV station internet sites. Handcuffing that girl, under the circumstances she was being held under, and tasing the barely 16-year-old multiple times was beyond the pale. Not arresting those two adult men on the spot is simply unbelievable. We will keep you posted as this lawsuit develops.)