Wyoming public entities are together paying a $375,000 lawsuit settlement to a family that accused a sheriff’s deputy of tackling their second-grade son at school in 2022 during a disciplinary response, according to a settlement agreement released Monday to Cowboy State Daily.
Emily and Ishmael DeJesus sued Laramie County Sheriff’s Deputy Benjamin Jacquot and the sheriff’s department in November 2023 in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
U.S. District Court Judge Kelly Rankin dismissed the lawsuit earlier this month, after the state and the family filed a settlement agreement.
Jacquot declined to comment Monday, according to Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak.
Kozak, who was not the sheriff during the incident, said that was adjudicated internally during the previous administration.
"When I took office I realized there was no policy for our school resource deputy program, so I suspended the program, removed (a different deputy then serving) from the school, and we rebuilt the program," said Kozak. "We have a complete training the school resource deputies go through, and we have three deputies assigned to the school resource program."
One deputy is assigned to Burns High School, one is assigned to Pine Bluffs High School, and the third is at-large, he said.
"In the current policy we make it clear that deputies are not engaged in business that the principal should be responsible for, (like) student disciplinary actions, policy violations," he said, later clarifying that agents will defer to school administrators in situations involving otherwise potentially criminal actions by children who are not old enough to be arrested.
Law enforcement agents also don't have access to student records under the new policy, said Kozak.
Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill declined Monday to comment.
The Claims
The DeJesus family alleged that on Feb. 15, 2022, Jacquot unnecessarily tackled and pinned their 8-year-old son to the ground while working as a school resource officer at Freedom Elementary School in Cheyenne.
The lawsuit complaint says the incident prompted the family to move.
It alleges that on Feb. 15, 2022, the boy said unpleasant things to a cashier in the lunchroom. He had ADHD and an individualized education plan (IEP) in place, according to the lawsuit?.
A school official was trying to convince the boy to apologize.
“According to Principal (Chad) Delbridge’s written report, Deputy Jacquot grabbed (the boy) by the arm when (he) stood up and began walking away from Principal Delbridge to return to class,” the complaint says.
The document says the boy was not a threat to himself or anyone else; was not committing and had not committed a crime; had no weapons; and wasn’t under arrest.
“Deputy Jacquot, nevertheless, forcibly wrestled (him) into a nearby conference room using an armlock where the assault grew violent,” says the complaint, which also accuses the deputy of deleting portions of his body camera video depicting him slamming the boy on the floor.
“The undeleted body cam video returns at (timestamp) 5:16, at which point (the boy) is pinned underneath Deputy Jacquot while (the boy) screams and cries in pain and fear,” says the complaint.
Bleeding wounds are visible in the video, the document says. The complaint says the boy fought for breath and coughed, repeatedly saying, “I give up.”
Settled
This case did not go to trial. Wyoming authorities and the DeJesus family settled it with an agreement signed in July.
The judge dismissed it earlier this month “with prejudice,” meaning the DeJesus family can’t bring it again.
The settlement agreement, which Hill released to Cowboy State Daily on Monday, says Wyoming authorities agreed to pay $375,000 to the DeJesus family.
Of that, $325,000 is being paid by the state of Wyoming on Jacquot’s behalf. Another $50,000 is being paid by the Wyoming Association of Risk Management on behalf of the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.
But this settlement is not an admission of liability, the document says.
“This settlement is a compromise of disputed claims,” says the settlement agreement. “(Its terms) are not intended, nor are they to be construed, as an admission of liability.”
In fact, the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office and Jacquot deny they’re liable for wrongdoing in this matter, the settlement adds.
The parties involved are not to disparage one another, the agreement adds.
The DeJesus family is to pay their attorneys from the proceeds of their settlement.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
