Report: County Pays $2.4 Million to Woman Wrongly Arrested While Naked

Colorado’s Fremont County has reportedly paid $2.4 million to a woman who was unlawfully arrested while naked inside her apartment.

“Fremont County doled out the sum last week to Carolyn O’Neal after she sued the sheriff’s office over her May 2014 arrest while at a sober living facility in Cañon City,” the New York Post reported.

Deputies responded to the scene for a welfare check due to concerns O’Neal might harm herself.

“O’Neal told three responding male deputies she wasn’t going to hurt herself — and was naked while preparing a bath, but the officers used a key to enter her apartment anyway and tossed her onto a bed before arresting her,” the Post article read.

She was reportedly still unclothed when taken to jail where she was placed in a restraint chair for several hours.

“Deputies also twice used a Taser on the woman despite her arms and legs being restrained at the time and being forced to wear a spit mask,” the article said.

Last year, a jury awarded her $3.6 million, but a federal judge cut the amount to about $2.1 million which prompted both sides to issue appeals, according to the Denver Post.

“This was an outrageous case,” her attorney, David Lane, said Sunday. “Law enforcement officers who believed they were above the law got smacked down hard by a jury.”

“And unfortunately this costs the taxpayers of Fremont County a lot of money. But I hope it inspires the citizenry to demand accountability from law enforcement — otherwise it’s coming out of their pockets,” he continued.

In 2019, Lane said management called the police, noting O’Neal’s mother was dying and she was depressed at the time of the arrest, according to KDVR.

He also said, “she made some offhand statement about ‘Things are going so great, I feel like I should drive my car off a cliff,'” adding that his client suffered from PTSD and other mental health issues.

“O’Neal was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct for ‘offensive utterances.’ A judge eventually dismissed those charges,” the 2019 report concluded.