Mom Receives a $2 Million Settlement for Jail Death of Her Intellectually Disabled Son

When Tomas Beauford was arrested after getting into a fight at a group home for intellectually disabled people in 2014, a device he wore around his wrist to help regulate his seizures was confiscated as if it were jewelry when he got to jail, according to a lawsuit filed by his mother. When he refused to take an array of medications there for his epilepsy and mental illness, he was allowed to skip them even though he had the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, the lawsuit said.

Nearly a decade after Beauford was found dead in his cell after allegedly suffering multiple seizures behind bars, lawyers for Tiffany Marsh announced Monday that she won a $2 million settlement with Mesa County and the health care company which the county had hired to provide medical care for people housed at its jail.

Her lawsuit alleged that jail workers did not provide Beauford medical attention after witnessing his seizures during a six-week stay in jail. He was found dead on April 16, 2014, his body on the ground and his head wedged inside the bottom shelf of a desk in his cell, after deputies had witnessed him having seizures in the hours before, according to Marsh’s lawsuit.

Read the source article at apnews.com