Sedgwick County agrees to pay former inmate allegedly beaten unconscious by deputy

A former Sedgwick County Jail inmate will receive a $50,000 settlement after he was allegedly beaten unconscious by a deputy in 2017.

Kristopher Welch, 32, filed a federal lawsuit last year against the Sedgwick County Commission, Sheriff Jeff Easter and the jail sergeant he said beat him, Cody Alexander. Commissioners approved the $50,000 settlement with Welch on Wednesday.

Alexander is now a lieutenant, according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.

Welch’s lawsuit originally sought $75,000 in damages.

The suit argued Alexander violated Welch’s constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. It also contended Easter and the county failed “to properly or sufficiently train and supervise its detention deputies,” which amounts to a “deliberate indifference” to inmates’ rights.

The lawsuit said Alexander “forcibly removed” Welch from a bed at the jail, ordered him into handcuffs and then slammed him against a cell wall when he didn’t comply quickly enough with an order to move bunks on March 13, 2017.

“Rather than provide Plaintiff (Welch) with sufficient time to comply, Defendant Alexander forcibly removed Plaintiff from the bunk he was sleeping in,” the lawsuit said.

After he was in cuffs, Welch “made a comment of frustration” towards the sergeant.

The sergeant reacted by punching Welch “from behind in the left side of his face” while Welch was “in a defenseless position and was facing away,” the lawsuit says. The blow fractured “multiple bones” and caused Welch “to black out.”

The lawsuit called the alleged attack unnecessary and unreasonable and says it “served no legitimate law enforcement, safety, or jail administration purpose.”

Court records show Welch was in jail at the time of the alleged assault in connection with violating the terms of his probation in two 2016 cases. He pleaded guilty in those cases to damaging a 2012 Camaro and possessing marijuana and methamphetamine. He was booked on the probation violations March 8, 2017, records show.

Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker with The Eagle

This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 5:32 PM.