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Lawsuit: Man's finger broken for flipping Adams County deputy off

Lawsuit: Man's finger broken for flipping Adams County deputy off
Posted at 7:32 PM, Dec 13, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-13 21:32:49-05

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — A man arrested in 2015 is suing an Adams County deputy for allegedly breaking his finger after the man flipped the officer off. 

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday on behalf of Jeffrey Woodfork in U.S. District Court in Denver, also alleges jail staff failed to provide him medical treatment for the injury, causing the finger to heal in a malformed position. 

According to the lawsuit, Woodfork and a female companion were stopped December 12, 2015, by Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Wilson, who was driving an unmarked police vehicle. The woman fled while Woodfork was held at gunpoint, the lawsuit read. It’s unclear what prompted the stop.

During the stop, Wilson demanded Woodfork tell him where his female companion ran off too. But Woodfork claims he refused Wilson’s request, responding by saying “f—k you” as he flashed the deputy his middle finger.

The lawsuit alleges during an arrest following the interaction, Wilson purposely broke Woodfork’s middle finger by twisting and yanking the finger until it snapped.

Over the next several weeks inside the Adams County Jail, Woodfork alleges in the suit that his pleas for medical assistance were ignored by nursing staff, contracted through Corizon Health, until x-rays revealed a fracture. 

However, despite that knowledge, he alleges that staff failed to refer him to a physician for 20 days when he was evaluated at Denver Health. But at that point, Woodfork’s finger had healed improperly.

Woodfork is suing Wilson and the Corizon Health nurses for excessive force and deliberate indifference to medical care. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages.

Denver7 reached out to the Adams County Sheriff's Office for comment, but we have yet to hear back.