$10.19M settlement reached in lawsuit over man’s death at Huerfano County Detention Center
According to the lawsuit, Michael Burch was tossed into a metal bench and then denied medical care before he died in his cell a week later.
HUERFANO COUNTY, Colo. — The family of a man who died at the Huerfano County Detention Center reached a settlement for $10.19 million, related to claims of excessive force and a lack of medical care that contributed to the man’s death.
Michael Burch, 69, died inside his cell at the detention center on April 4, 2023. In March 2025, his family sued the county board of commissioners, the county sheriff, the Huerfano County Hospital District, and Spanish Peaks Regional Health Center. It also names several paramedics and nurses, and detention center employees.
According to the suit, Burch worked as a correction officer in California for decades before retiring and moving to Huerfano County in 2007. Attorneys for his family said he was taken into custody on March 25, 2023, while having a mental health crisis. He was otherwise in good physical health, attorneys said.
The family attorney said they believe he was acting out due to dementia. Three days later, on March 28, they claim a detention officer “pummeled” Burch into a metal bench for refusing to drop a pencil he was holding.
Attorneys for the family said a Taser was deployed and Burch began moving toward an officer in an effort to defend himself. That’s when the attorneys said the officer pushed Burch so hard that he fell into the metal bench, breaking six of his ribs.
The broken bones punctured several of his organs, which caused “massive” internal bleeding. On the day of the incident, the lawsuit says the officer wrote in an excessive force report that Burch had an injury to his “right ribs” but did not notify paramedics or jail medical staff.
Despite Burch saying his ribs were crushed, the lawsuit claims he was denied medical care and locked in his cell. It also says workers covered his cell window with black plastic and failed to properly monitor his condition.
When the plastic was removed, the lawsuit says the defendants described him as a “different person” and indicated that he struggled to walk and continued to plead for medical care, but was still not given any. On April 4, 2023 – a week after he was injured – he was found dead in his cell.
In a release announcing the settlement, attorneys for Burch’s family called on Huerfano County Sheriff Bruce Newman to resign, calling him “unfit for office.” If he does not resign, they asked the voters of Huerfano County to hold him accountable.
Read the article in its entirety here.