By Brian Porter
The Fort Morgan Times, Colo.
FORT MORGAN, Colo. — An inmate assaulted a pair of Morgan County Sheriff’s Office detention deputies last week in separate incidents, Sheriff Dave Martin said in a Facebook post.
Inmate Hassan Buthul is being charged with two counts of second-degree assault on a peace officer released to the assaults stemming from morning medication distribution in the jail and from another personal request he made, Martin said in the post.
“Working in the jail is the hardest job in law enforcement,” Martin told The Fort Morgan Times. “These deputies are unsung heroes. They work with an inmate population 24/7.”
Both assaults occurred on June 14. In the first incident at 8:30 a.m., a deputy was assisting a nurse with medication distribution when Buthul attempted to walk to a different housing unit, the report reads. Upon informing the inmate he did not have permission to leave the unit, Buthul did not comply and struck the deputy several times in the face. The inmate was moved to another location where he could be more closely monitored, the report reads. Several inmates assisted the deputy until other staff could arrive.
A few hours later, Buthul asked a deputy for a blanket. When the cell door was opened to deliver the blanket, Buthul attacked the deputy by hitting him in the face, the report reads. Buthul was placed back into the cell.
“In most cases, we do have compliant inmates,” Martin said “Mental health is a problem in the jail. The state is not doing enough to remedy that.”
Martin also noted another unrelated incident the prior week in the jail in which an inmate used a mop bucket provided to inmates to clean their cells and threw it at and through a window in a housing unit, breaking a mop ringer and window. Martin expects the inmate will be asked to pay $3,000 for replacement of the window.
“This past week was a very stressful one for our detention staff,” Martin said. “I would like to thank them for all their hard work.”
In another unrelated matter outside the jail, Martin discussed the rescue of two juvenile females from high water in the South Platte River with The Times. He is encouraging all persons to stay out of the river while there is a higher than normal capacity of water and as those waters are fast-moving.
“The storms we are having are contributing to the water level,” Martin said. “We want everyone to stay safe.”
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