Due to the important nature of the jail and police cases we handle at Budge & Heipt, our cases are frequently featured in the news. In addition, journalists and reporters often seek to interview Ed Budge and Erik Heipt about our views on civil rights violations, including wrongful death or catastrophic injury by police or in jail or prison. Please take some time to read about our firm and our attorneys in the news, and review our blog to learn more about our firm and issues surrounding the cases we take.
Jails are can be dangerous places. Unfortunately, inmate-against-inmate assaults (including sexual assaults) do occur. Some assaults result in extremely serious injuries, or even death. When such assaults occur, jail officials can face legal liability under the Constitution for failing to prevent them, but only in limited circumstances. The Supreme Court has held that jail officials […]
From: The Influence Julie Cobio Firkins prayed and then walked into a room to watch her 33-year-old husband die. “The video that you’re going to see is very sad,” she remembers the officer warning her—twice—before playing footage from a police bodycam. But as the tape rolled, she had a different thought: “It was brutal, not […]
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office also withheld crucial information on inmate’s death, a lawsuit says A Fremont County jail inmate suffered psychotic delusions and physical abuse by deputies before being found naked and dead on his cell floor in April 2014, according to a federal lawsuit. John Patrick Walter’s death is the fault of Fremont […]
A Fremont County jail inmate died naked on the floor of his cell after he was deprived of a prescription medication and beaten by guards during bouts of withdrawal-related psychosis, a lawsuit alleges. John Patrick Walter, 53, had nine broken ribs and other injuries when Fremont County sheriff’s deputies found him unresponsive while making their […]
MONROE — The family of a man killed at the Monroe Correctional Complex last year has filed a federal lawsuit alleging officers at the prison failed to protect him from a fellow inmate spiraling out of control. Under federal rules, the complaint does not name the state Department of Corrections as a defendant. Instead, it […]
Jail death attorneys, Budge & Heipt, have filed a $10 million claim against the King County Jail in Seattle for the wrongful death of a pretrial detainee. The detainee, Nathan Zambryski, died at the jail in May 2015 from complications relating to alcohol withdrawal. Budge & Heipt, the lawyers for the estate of Mr. Zambryski, […]
Inmate Death in Monroe, Washington: MONROE — When detectives arrived to investigate a vicious assault at the Monroe Correctional Center in May, they expected to examine the crime scene. They couldn’t. There wasn’t one. When a Monroe Police Department detective inquired about the dearth of physical evidence, the lieutenant on duty inside the Special Offenders […]
The family of a man who suffers from mental illness is suing the Seattle Police Department for police brutality, alleging the man suffered severe brain damage during an arrest last year. Attorney Ed Budge claims 15 Seattle police officers stepped over the line while trying to arrest his client, Brian Torgerson, on May 29, 2010. […]
The Seattle Times reports on an egregious incident of excessive force in Washington State: King County has agreed to pay $3 million to a man who was severely injured when he was shot by a King County sheriff’s deputy and an officer with the Department of Corrections. Dustin Theoharis was unarmed and in bed Feb. […]
Reported by the Seattle Times: The state Department of Corrections has agreed to pay $2.5 million to a man who survived 16 gunshots fired by a corrections officer and King County sheriff’s deputy in 2012, ending a lawsuit in which the judge raised serious questions about what led to the barrage. The settlement comes on […]
If you or a loved one has been a victim of serious injury and/or death at the hands of police or in jail or prison, tell us about your case.