Boulder County settles with man who gouged his eyes out in jail

Boulder County will pay more than $2.5 million to a man who sued on claims of neglect while he was in jail back in 2016.

The man attempted suicide multiple times while in jail. The lawsuit claims deputies used excessive force and didn’t do enough to treat his serious psychiatric needs.

The FOX31 Problem Solvers spoke with his family on Wednesday. A warning: There are details in this story that are disturbing.

According to the civil rights lawsuit. Ryan Partridge was in the Boulder County jail for minor assault back in 2016. He was 30 years old and homeless at the time.

He had severe schizophrenic psychosis, according to the lawsuit. While he was prescribed medicine, he stopped taking it and jumped off the second floor of the jail, breaking his back.

In surveillance video during another incident, Partridge is seen naked and getting into confrontations with deputies, which the lawsuit used as an example of excessive force. Then in December 2016, Partridge gouged his eyes out, causing permanent blindness.

The lawsuit argues the county knew about his mental state and didn’t do enough to forcibly medicate him or obtain a court order to do so.

“If any of the defendants had initiated appropriate medical intervention on behalf of Mr. Partridge, he would not be blind today, would not have broken seven teeth or jumped from the second tier, smashing his head into the metal table and cement floor of the jail and breaking his back,” the lawsuit claims.

FOX31 spoke with him and his parents, who told the Problem Solvers there needs to be reform to make sure something like this never happens again.

“I’m not really the same individual that I was. My tasks are more laborious, but ultimately, I have grown a little bit from it,” Partridge said.

“This was an avoidable tragedy. Didn’t have to happen,” his mother, Shelley, said.

“We don’t feel that there’s a lot of accountability or justice in this decision. I guess my question is always for those people that think that this is so much money, my question would be if you were 30 years old, how much money would you take to be blind the rest of your life?” his father, Richard, said.

The sheriff’s office sent the Problems Solvers a statement.

“At the time of Mr. Partridge’s injury, he was under a court order to receive mental health services at the state hospital in Pueblo. While Mr. Partridge was in the jail’s custody, sheriff’s office employees repeatedly tried to get him into a facility that could provide him a higher level of mental health treatment than available in a jail setting. Despite those efforts, Mr. Partridge remained in the jail,” the statement reads in part.

The statement went on to say they hope this settlement brings closure to the family. It also says the sheriff’s office has been advocating for a pilot program to allow court approval of treatment medication being administered in jails, but a bill to create that program failed at the state Capitol.